All’s fair in love, war and an Ontario election campaign.

Breaking with a tradition of professional courtesy on the hustings that stretches back decades, the governing Liberals have banned Progressive Conservative and New Democratic MPPs, candidates and staffers from all electoral events featuring Dalton McGuinty.

“The Ontario Liberal campaign will strike a very serious tone and we’re only interested in presenting our positive plan to Ontarians,” Chris Morley, McGuinty’s chief of staff, told the Star on Sunday.

Concerned that opposition politicians or aides “would play political games” at the Liberal leader’s events, Morley last week called senior officials with Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to advise them they were not welcome to attend.

Lynette Corbett, Hudak’s chief of staff, said she was “very surprised given past practices among the parties.”

“It just shows how out of touch they’ve become. It’s time for a change from a premier who no longer understands regular Ontario families,” said Corbett.

Jason Lietaer, the Hudak campaign’s communications director, said Liberals and New Democrats would be welcome at PC events as long as they are not disruptive.

Lietaer expressed astonishment that the Liberals would end the tradition of allowing observers at rival events, which allows journalists to get quick opposition reaction.

“What’s he so afraid of? Is he worried that he’ll slip up and accidentally level with Ontario families about the tax increases he’s secretly planning?”

Ironically, McGuinty has enjoyed good relations with the “spies” from competing campaigns. In 1999, the two Tory operatives who shadowed his campaign bought him a bottle of Scotch and posed for photographs with him as appreciation of the courtesy he showed them over four weeks on the road together.

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