TO THE FURROWS
MPPs are trekking to Walkerton for the annual International Plowing Match, a big to-do in Ontario politics in which politicians swap their suits for Stetsons, climb aboard tractors and compete to carve the straightest furrow, all in pursuit of wooing rural votes.
All party leaders will take the stage, and with municipal elections just over a month away, expect plenty of promises aimed beyond Toronto’s borders.
The IPM may look like a county fair — but for provincial politicians, it’s a strong gauge of rural sentiment. There’s a reason the Legislature traditionally clears its calendar for it: showing up beyond the big cities still counts, and so does the reception.
Just ask KATHLEEN WYNNE. The then-premier was booed at the 2016 match by farmers and rural residents furious over soaring hydro bills and a growing sense that Queen’s Park wasn’t listening. In hindsight, it looked like an early foreshadowing of the Liberals’ electoral wipeout two years later.
Fast forward a decade…
