Is Ontario’s Big Blue Machine rolling again?
With Doug Ford’s surprisingly decisive Ontario election win, you might wonder about going back to the future. Specifically, is the Progressive Conservatives’ fabled Big Blue Machine rolling again?
Younger voters may find this hard to credit, but there was a time when the Progressive Conservatives consistently dominated Ontario politics. Beginning in 1943, they won 12 consecutive elections, nine with outright majorities. When the dynasty ended in 1985, they’d been in power for 42 straight years.
The term Big Blue Machine was coined to describe the combination of organizational depth and marketing smarts that defined the party’s operation. It was deeply rooted, broadly based and a potent blend of suburban and rural. It often seemed invincible.
While it’s always iffy to characterize a political party’s support, Anglo-Celtic Protestant would be an apt broad-brush description of the PCs’ mid-20th century Ontario base. Given the province’s history and demographics, that was a powerful vote-getting profile.