Most provincial premiers try to maximize their media exposure when announcing the date of an election. This province's premiers have been no exception and from the days of Joey Smallwood, each successive premier has tried to squeeze the maximum media coverage from his election call.

Doug Letto, in his insightful study of the 1999 election, Run: Brian Tobin’s Quest for a Second Term, relates how then-premier Brian Tobin timed his news conference to coincide with the start of local television supper-hour news shows and tried to manipulate the media into giving the opposition party leaders’ news conferences short shrift.

Roger Grimes was apparently so inspired by Tobin’s example that he tried to outdo his predecessor. He not only turned up late for his news conference, but launched into what might be a speech of record-breaking length.

Because of national programming commitments, CBC Radio cut off coverage of Grimes’ speech before the election date was even announced and CBC Television was forced to cut off Opposition Leader Danny Williams mid-way through his speech.

While the premier’s campaign staff may have thought this was very clever, members of the public were not amused. Fortunately, the private television network, NTV, continued coverage of Williams’ speech and that of NDP leader Jack Harris. Someone in the Liberal campaign should note that voters today are more sophisticated than during the Smallwood era and see through shadowy manipulation.

No gain from late, long speech

So what did Grimes gain by this opening tactic? Very little. Not only was his speech releasing the Liberal campaign platform wooden and uninspired, but the excessive length left the candidates surrounding him looking hot and uncomfortable as they shuffled around under the television lights.

Although the Conservative candidates also suffered as they waited under the hot lights, the image of the Tory campaign kickoff was of a more orderly and disciplined team as they listened attentively to their leader – perhaps because they were hearing their party’s campaign policy for the first time.

Backed by positive public opinion poll results and byelection wins, the Conservative news conference seemed more genuinely upbeat and enthusiastic than was the Liberal one.

By contrast, although Jack Harris gave the shortest and best opening speech, nicely picking up on the campaign themes of the other parties and offering some ideologically distinct policies, the NDP news conference with its few candidates seemed pathetically small and subdued in comparison with those of the other parties.

Web site comparison

Considering the technologically-advanced age we live in and the certainty of the election call, it might have been expected that all parties would have had their election web sites ready to go.

The Tories and NDP had well-designed Web sites right off the mark. In fact, within minutes of the election being announced, the Conservative’s entire policy book could be found on a very sophisticated Web site. The Tories may have been reluctant to release their campaign book before the election, but it was evidently right there all the time ready to go.

The Liberals, alas, have a cluttered, confusing Web site which initially offered not a hint of their policy platform, although it did offer a link to a rather sleazy page called “Opposition Watch” which asks innuendo-laden and simplistic questions about Danny Williams and the Conservatives. The stuff reads as though someone on a high school debating team prepared the Web site

As for “taking a closer look” at the Liberal’s policy platform, the day following the election call, I searched in vain for the Liberal’s policy book on line. Finally, a friend directed me to an elusive Web site which declared the page was “under construction.”

Friday, the link to the party platform is working, but the resulting document must be downloaded to the user's computer and is in a static layout much more difficult to access, navigate, and read than the Tory's interactive format.

Liberal disarray

The apparent disarray and confusion within the party in the days leading up to the election seems to have continued unabated. For the governing Liberals to have such a poorly prepared Web site with non-operating links is astonishing.

Even the much more financially strapped NDP Web site is well-organized and provides clear and easily accessible links to their major policy stands.

Why make a big deal about Web site appearance and content? Because most people will neither receive nor have an opportunity to read the parties’ entire policy platforms. They may hear snippets of policy or read simplified versions in media advertising and campaign handouts, but unless they have ready access to the complete document, their understanding of where the parties stand on the various issues will be severely limited.

No doubt, the Liberals will quickly repair their link and voters will be able to read all parties’ complete campaign platforms online. Since the campaigning leaders have already begun casting aspersions on their opponents’ policies and promises, it is essential that informed voters be able to check for themselves the accuracy of these statements.

Policy statements and platforms are one way voters will judge which candidate or party to vote for. However, many other factors will enter into consideration including local issues, candidate and leader performance on the campaign trail, and the effectiveness of each of the three party leaders in next week’s televised debate.

Our next column will provide an assessment of the first week’s campaigning as the leaders prepare for their only opportunity to speak directly to each other, as well as the television audience, during the short three-week campaign.

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