Liberals dig into details, Conservatives put Poilievre front and centre in policy platforms
Canada's 2 top political parties have taken vastly different approaches with their policy platforms
Do Canadians want a policy platform that digs into details, or one that's easy to digest?
The two top parties gunning for Canadians' votes in next Monday's federal election have taken vastly different approaches, and experts say both are playing to their bases in the final week of the campaign.
The Conservative Party of Canada's 30-page policy platform, released Tuesday, is heavy on photos. The front cover features a photo of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his wife, Anaida, and several full pages inside are dedicated to images of Poilievre.
Compare that to the 67-page Liberal platform, released on Saturday, a text-heavy document with just one shot of Liberal Leader Mark Carney on the front.
Akaash Maharaj, a senior fellow with the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, says the two parties "are telling radically different stories" through their platforms.
He says the Liberal Party is presenting itself as competent and with a firm grasp on what it means to govern the country, while the Conservative Party is pitching itself as committed to radically changing the basic priorities of government and is "not interested in tinkering with the details."
Campaign trends have changed this election cycle
"If what Canadians are looking for is a dramatic change and break in the past, then the Conservatives have called this well," Maharaj said.
But he notes he was surprised to see the Conservative Party focus so prominently on Poilievre in its pitch to voters, given that he's seen as a "polarizing" figure who's popular with the party's base, but not with the voters it needs to win over.
The Liberals have used similar strategies in the past. For example, during Trudeau's time as leader, Maharaj says the party "operated as an extension of his personality." This time around, he says, the party had no opportunity to rebrand around Carney because he called the election so soon after taking over as leader, but that may work out in their favour given the shifting mood of Canadian voters.
While the broader political trend has been to galvanize around individual leaders, he says that's changed for Canadians during this election cycle, as some voters feel a "sense of revulsion" when they see the way the U.S. Republican Party has become a cult of personality around Donald Trump.
"We are at the juncture right now where the Liberals are correct to believe that Canadians are looking for quiet competence rather than a loud personality," he said.
Conservative platform short and punchy
But Andrea Lawlor, associate professor of political science at McMaster University in Hamilton, says the Conservatives' "shorter, punchier, more visual" policy platform is a strategic move that could pay off, in part by not tying the party to too many specific promises.
"I think there's some wisdom in not trying to bind yourself too closely to a wide variety of policy initiatives, some of which may be more or less feasible once they get into office, especially for a party who doesn't already have their eyes on the books from the internal perspective," she said.
"I always think that, the longer the policy platform, the riskier it can be."
Lawlor says both parties' platforms still cover the same broad topics and hot-button issues — namely trade, tariffs, defence spending, infrastructure building and cost of living.
Liberal platform longer, with a serious tone
The Liberals' thicker, denser platform, she says, is trying to send the message that Carney is a "serious and deep thinker when it comes to public policy," who has thought through the breadth and depth of issues affecting Canadians.
The Conservatives' platform, meanwhile, attempts to communicate an image of Poilievre as an "accessible and personable individual," by showing him in various settings, often shaking hands with Canadians from different walks of life.
She says the Conservative document also reflects the party's "leader-centred" campaign, during which few individual candidates have spoken publicly and there haven't been many hints as to which MPs might make up Poilievre's cabinet if he's elected.
"There's a lot of visualization of what his campaign has looked like, but also, I think, trying to signal what his leadership would look like. And often those visuals can resonate with people just as much as the text does," Lawlor said.
Vincent Raynauld, an associate professor in the department of communication studies at Emerson College in Boston, who studies political imagery, says the Conservatives' more "digestible" layout could be appealing in a time when people have little free time to read, and do most of their reading on smartphones.
"In many ways, they're oversimplifying their policy proposals to make them accessible," he said, noting the Liberals "have taken more of a traditional approach" in trying to provide voters with as much information as possible.
Parties 'speaking to the converted'
Ultimately, while some Canadians were eagerly awaiting the costed platforms, experts say the documents aren't likely to have a big impact on most voters.
Maharaj says the parties seem to be acknowledging as much by releasing them after advance polls opened Friday, and in the Conservatives' case, on Tuesday, after those polls closed.
Elections Canada said a record 7.3 million Canadians had already voted by the end of Monday.
According to Maharaj, few Canadians are still undecided, so the ability to persuade voters is lower than it has been in past elections.
"At this point, they are trying to energize Canadians who do support them, to get out and vote," he said.
"For both the Liberals and the Conservatives, their platforms seem to be speaking to the converted."
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