Andrea Horwath dropped by the Toronto Star on Friday to talk about her NDP election platform.

Why subject herself to a grilling, in the heat of a campaign, from a skeptical editorial board?

Politicians of all stripes visit newspapers in search of endorsements. While many assume the Toronto Star is twinned with the Liberal Party, there’s always hope for aspiring politicians.

Fun facts: The Star endorsed the late Jack Layton, then leader of the federal NDP, in the 2011 election (you know, that populist). It backed his predecessor, Ed Broadbent, in 1979 (ah yes, that pragmatist). And it sort of supported Horwath’s predecessor as provincial NDP leader, Howard Hampton, in 1999, calling him “our preferred choice.” It even backed Tory Bill Davis in 1981.

So why not Horwath? After all, her party has offered some fine progressive ideas over time.

Here’s one: She proposed an Ontario public pension plan that won accolades from the Star four years ago.

“Give Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath credit for seizing the initiative on pension reform at a time when so many others are conspicuously silent or running for cover,” gushed a 2010 editorial (I remember it well — I wrote it when I was on the board).

Fast forward to 2014: Strangely, there’s no mention of a pension plan in her campaign game plan. Horwath now opposes the public pension contained in the spring budget (the one she summarily rejected, triggering the June 12 election).

Wait — why is she now arguing against her own pension idea?

Let’s see. With a federal election around the corner in 2015, she’s hoping for a change in government in Ottawa to improve the Canada Pension Plan (obviating the need for a CPP clone in Ontario alone).

Wait —why didn’t the conflicting timetables deter her back in 2010, when there was a federal election looming in 2011?

Let’s see. Horwath now insists Ontario ought not to lead the way, because it would be unfair to leave other Canadians behind.

Wait — didn’t she propose an Ontario-only pension herself back then?

Let’s see. Trapped in an airless boardroom, caught in her own contradictions, Horwath reaches for a rhetorical escape route — and mocks the Liberals for flip-flopping on pensions: Dalton McGuinty opposed her 2010 idea.

Wait — if the Liberals have flipped on pensions, why have the New Democrats flopped? Surely two wrongs don’t make a right, even for a left-leaning party like hers?

After excoriating the Liberals for excruciating delays over the past four years, Horwath now wants us to put pensions on hold. Never mind that if Stephen Harper wins re-election, and PC Leader Tim Hudak triumphs in Ontario, pension reform will face double jeopardy.

Why wait? The real reason is that the dastardly Liberals proposed it in their budget, so Horwath will have none of it.

The same obstructionist pattern is evident on other social justice issues. When anti-poverty activists campaigned for a $14 minimum wage last year, Horwath ignored their calls for support — lest she antagonize small business. Not until the Liberals raised the rate from $10.25 to $11 an hour did Horwath belatedly go through the motions of demanding a hike to $12 — after the fact — while offering tax cuts to her new small business allies as a sop.

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Asked to describe her over-arching vision, Horwath cites Liberal corruption as the trigger for the election and the decisive issue for voters. It is her raison d’être on the campaign trail.

Why has Horwath recast herself as a tax fighter, crime fighter and pension postponer? Is it reflexive oppositionism or merely opportunism?

There is method to her madness, and purpose to her populism. After all, she wouldn’t be the first progressive to embrace populism in pursuit of popularity.

But she has gone further, faster, in renouncing past NDP positions. Horwath isn’t merely shifting toward the centre, she is leapfrogging past the Liberals in hopes that Tory voters will take a leap of faith toward her.

Privately, her strategists boast they are following the lead of Tony Blair, who dramatically revamped the U.K.’s Labour Party. Just as Blair brought forth New Labour, Horwath has given birth to the New New Democratic Party.

But the Labour model only goes so far in the context of Ontario’s three-party system. The party ideologies, and relative positions, are different.

Blair rebranded his ossified party in order to oust an entrenched, right-wing Conservative government in Britain. By contrast, Horwath has repositioned her own party in order to outflank an unusually progressive Liberal minority government in Ontario.

Blair pruned his policies to counter the legacy of Thatcherism in Britain. Horwath is rethinking her positions in order to thwart the vision laid out in Kathleen Wynne’s latest budget — sacrificing pension reform, higher wages for the working poor, welfare hikes and a transit plan.

Can the NDP’s electoral contortions win the progressive vote and woo Progressive Conservative voters? The polls suggest progressives care about progressive issues, while Tory voters tend to fuss about corruption).

We’ll see on June 12. On Friday, however, Horwath’s approach didn’t go over well with her journalistic audience — not as well as it did when Layton, Hampton and Broadbent dropped by.

Martin Regg Cohn’s provincial affairs column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

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