PROVINCIAL ELECTION ABOUT TRUST, NOT GRASS

These are the dog days of summer, and of Ontario's election campaign.

It's so bad that Progressive Conservative boss Tim Hudak -- he of the
large lead in the polls -- was asked this week if he'd ever used drugs
of the illegal variety.

Hudak replied that he had smoked marijuana as a youth, just part of a
normal life as a kid growing up.

Granted, there was some reason to ask the Tory leader this question.
He was announcing his party's plans to bring in a marijuana grow-op
registry, to alert potential home buyers to a property's history.

And naturally, Hudak mentioned that the idea for a growop and meth-lab
registry has been around as long as Dalton McGuinty has been the
Liberal premier of Ontario, or about seven years.

In other words, it's McGuinty's fault that such a registry doesn't
exist.

And, of course, Hudak mentioned that families deserve to know if the
home they're about to buy was once a drug house.

Then he mentioned something about putting the health and safety of
children and families at risk.

So, the same drum he's been pounding all summer.

Hudak was quick to point out he's not in favour of decriminalizing
marijuana, hardly a surprise, either.

The Tory boss keeps saying his party is all about helping Ontario
families, which are hard-hit by the harmonized sales tax (HST), rising
hydro rates, rising taxes on rising hydro rates and a (Liberal)
government which has lost touch with the very people who elected it.

There has been a noticeable shift to the political right in Ontario
this past year.

Provincial voters helped give Prime Minister Stephen Harper his
majority government in Ottawa.

Ontario's largest city, Toronto, overwhelmingly elected Rob Ford as
its mayor. He's made no bones about his Conservatives leanings
(although, just nine months in, some of those gravy draining,
cost-cutting promises, with no services lost, are going to be hard to
keep).

And who was the last Ontario Grit premier in recent memory to last
more than two terms in office?

At this point in the Oct. 6 election campaign, it would be a major
surprise if Hudak isn't this province's next premier.

So he keeps beating the drum, hammering away at McGuinty's record,
pumping up policy to help Ontario families, making sure he gets in his
memorable quote, photo-op or sound bite each and every day.

Hudak has the lead in this election campaign, all he needs to do
between now and October is keep it.

And there's certainly merit to a grow-op/meth-lab registry. Who
doesn't want to know a property's history?

But this election isn't likely to be won, or lost, on such issues.
Hudak and McGuinty (who has also admitted smoking grass as a youth)
both know this.

It will, or at least should, ultimately come down to
trust.

Are voters happy with the job McGuinty and company have done since
2003? Can they be trusted to do a good job for the next four years?

Or is it time for a change, for new leadership at Queen's Park, a new
way to deal with the challenges facing Ontario?

Who do Ontario voters trust? They know, by now, what they've got in
McGuinty. They know what Hudak has promised.

These two seemingly polar political opposites will soon go
head-to-head.