Ontario election: Tim Hudak and his numbers game

Tim Hudak has done the math and he wants you to know it.

The PC leader admits his Million Jobs Plan will cut 100,000 public sector jobs but stresses a cut in the corporate tax rate, ending green energy subsidies and changes to the apprenticeship program will create far more jobs in return.   More than a million of them in fact.

Hudak holds these truths to be self evident.

The only reason Kathleen Wynne and Andrea Horwath don’t follow the same path is their need to be loved says the PC leader.

Hudak does not need your love because he is too serious for such trivial matters. Math is his guide. Jobs are his focus, a focus he is fond of describing as laser like.

What has mystified both pundits and conservative supporters is why he would announce a scary number like 100,000. He is to be congratulated for his openness, if not for his political acumen.

Funding for faith based schools was a matter of faith for John Tory, and although it may have been the right thing to do, it became a cudgel for the Liberals to beat Tory with.  Hudak will say you’re fired more often than Donald Trump is the current quip from Kathleen Wynne.   Right now Liberal strategists are working on 100,000 more snarky one liners.   Let the beating begin.

In Depth: Ontario Election 2014

Hudak said recently that his energy plan will create 40,000 new jobs. While his promise to cut public sector jobs has become the defining issue early in this long campaign, his pledge to simultaneously create positions by cutting expenses and red tape has Hudak sounding like Oprah handing out goodies.

WATCH: Tim Hudak says balancing the budget is priority number one in his job creation plan

And you get a job, and you get a job, and you…

Oh, and you education worker?  Can we interest you in a job as a plumber?

The so called trickle-down economics so beloved by the Tories, where employers take every dollar removed from their bottom line and stuff it into a paycheque, cannot reasonably be expected to produce a swift boom in jobs.   It’s called trickle-down for a reason.

Perhaps his numbers add up.  Perhaps the people of Ontario are ready for a Buckley’s candidate (Sure it tastes awful, but it works).  It is also possible that by defining the number of jobs he plans to cut, he may drive centrist voters into the arms of Kathleen Wynne, who is not so concerned with math, and will welcome your love.