KINSELLA: The power of the Liberal brand remains strong

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Does the political brand work? It is real?

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Some, like this writer, say yes. Some say it’s a bunch of hot air and hot air from Madison Avenue: Pepsi versus Coca-Cola, whatever.

Believe me: political branding works and it’s very, very real. Don’t you think so? Then take a look at what happened in three constituencies on Election Night, across the country: Vancouver-Granville, Spadina-Fort York, and Fredericton.

A summary:

In Vancouver-Granville, the Liberal candidate, Taleeb Noormohamed, was caught flipping houses and making millions, a practice the Liberal Party platform promised to ban. Noormohamed skipped all the candidates’ meetings, allegedly refused to knock on doors, and was a disaster in media encounters, as shown in a Sept. 2 interview with CTV. He won anyway.

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In Spadina-Fort York, liberals say Kevin Vuong did not disclose the fact that he had been charged with sexual assault (Vuong says the allegations are false. No trial was held and charges were dropped. The alleged victim said. that she was unable to participate in the trial). When the sexual assault charge was made public, it was too late to remove Vuong’s name from the ballot. The Liberal Party initially defended Vuong but, when outrage mounted, it abandoned him as a candidate. He won anyway.

In Fredericton, the liberal candidate, Jenica Atwin, was elected in 2019 under the banner of the Green Party. In 2020, Atwin defamed the Jewish state, accusing it of the racist policy of “apartheid”, despite the fact that Israel has Palestinians in its government, army and judiciary. Thereafter she was greeted at Justin Trudeau’s caucus and told the media that she was “not alone” in her anti-Israel position there, reaffirming that she “certainly supports” his smears about the Jewish state. She won anyway.

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Noormohamed, Vuong and Atwin represent the worst in politics. They are not eligible to run as dog hunters, much less for a seat in our highest legislature. Anti-Israel statements, sexual assault, hateful personal enrichment – these people do not belong in any way to Parliament. But they were elected to Parliament.

Some will blame the media, but it was the media that made the accusations against Noormohamed, Vuong and Atwain public, showering them with shame. Others will accuse clueless urban voters of complicity, but Fredericton is comparatively very small, and Atwin was elected there by only a few thousand votes.

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Then why? Why, why, why were these three chosen when we all knew how disreputable they were?

Because of the brand. Because the three shared one thing: the brand of the Liberal Party.

Like it or not, the Liberal Party is the most successful political vehicle in Western democracy. It has ruled Canada for most of its history.

The liberal brand means different things to different people: administrative competence, national unity, accommodation of newcomers. But your brand is stronger than the conservative brand or the New Democrat brand.

In one of my books Fight the rightI maintain that great political decisions are emotional, not rational. They are made in the heart of a voter, not in his mind. Political branding works because it’s about emotion: essentially it’s about repeating a word, phrase, or logo, over and over, until it lodges in the gut of the voter.

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For those of you who are horrified by Justin Trudeau, like me, you can rest assured that you are not alone – two-thirds of Canadians feel the same way we do. The 2021 federal election was “won” despite Justin Trudeau, not because of him.

Trudeau clung to power, with Noormohamed, Vuong and Atwin behind him, because most people vote for a brand, not a person. They all ran under the Liberal brand, which is the strongest political brand in our history.

Can voters be persuaded to drop the liberal brand? Sure. Coca-Cola drinkers regularly become Pepsi drinkers (I did).

However, it is a long, laborious and labyrinthine process. Is not easy.

But if you want to defeat Trudeau, Noormohamed, Vuong and Atwin next time, it is the only way.

– Kinsella was a special assistant to Jean Chretien and vice president of a Vancouver advertising agency.