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But then, the Tories had worthy competitors.

For every Conservative candidate making jokes about gays or Muslims, there was an NDP candidate quoting Hitler or a Liberal candidate asking whether 9/11 was an inside job. The tie was broken only in the campaign’s final week, when Tory candidate Raymond Cho apologized for getting into a fight with a Grade 7 student while canvassing on school grounds.

The same was true of the leaders. While Conservative Leader Doug Ford stumbled through the televised debates and proved incapable of answering basic questions about his platform or even how a bill becomes a law, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath offered persuasive evidence of being unable to read a budget, signing off on a platform that listed a “reserve” as revenue rather than spending.

For every Conservative candidate making jokes about gays or Muslims, there was an NDP candidate quoting Hitler or a Liberal candidate asking whether 9/11 was an inside job

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, in perhaps the campaign’s most eccentric gambit, conceded the election with five days to go, on the theory that people would be more likely to vote Liberal if they were convinced there was no danger of them actually being elected. She was careful, however, not to make any commitment about her own leadership, leaving that to candidates like David Henderson, who responded by announcing his campaign to replace her.

In the end the election came down, as most do, to whom the voters hated and feared most. Vote NDP, Horwath’s team exhorted, to stop Ford. Vote Conservative, Team Tory replied, to stop the NDP. Vote Liberal, Wynne pleaded, to stop both the Tories and the NDP, which is to say to give the balance of power to the party the voters had just put out of power.