What the Ontario leaders revealed about themselves in the first election debate 

The big debate test in the Ontario election remains ahead for the four party leaders when they clash in the only provincewide televised face-off of the campaign next Monday night. 

In the meantime, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will all be aiming to learn lessons from Tuesday's lower-profile debate focused on northern Ontario. 

Here's what that event on Tuesday revealed about each leader's debating strengths and weaknesses and what they'll need to accomplish when the eyes of the whole province are on them next week. 

As the incumbent and the current front-runner, according to the CBC News Ontario Poll Tracker, Ford has the most to lose in debates, so his dominant mission is simply not to stumble. The key goal is not to provide clips in which he looks bad that get amplified to wider audiences on TV, radio and online. 

Ford's strategy to accomplish this appears to be not to take the bait from his opponents when they slam him. Instead, Ford tries to redirect any criticism of him back to the Liberals and their 15 years in power. 

It's political jiu-jitsu: using the force from an enemy attack and turning it onto your opponent. 

The best example of that was Ford's response to a question about highways in the north. "Mr. Del Duca, you had your opportunity and you failed," said Ford. "You were the minister of transportation. You didn't build absolutely nothing." 

Ford came through the 90-minute debate mostly unscathed, so in that sense it's mission accomplished for the PCs. However, he revealed a couple of weaknesses that could cost him on the far bigger stage of the provincewide debate.

Moderator Markus Schwabe of CBC Radio's Morning North asked Ford a straightforward question about his government's performance in the COVID-19 pandemic. It was something Ford should have been able to hit out of the park. Instead, he came across as defensive, with a tone that implied how hard it was to be premier in a pandemic. 

"We were going around the clock," Ford said. "I'll tell you, folks, there were some challenging times and really tough decisions."

After the COVID-19 discussion opened up to the other leaders, Ford reacted to their criticism as if it wounded him personally, saying he was "shocked and disappointed." Ford's handlers will likely want to rethink how he responds to pandemic questions next Monday. 

VIDEO | Doug Ford, Steven Del Duca clash over highways  

The debate also laid bare just how heavily Ford has relied on a teleprompter to read his speeches. During the entirety of his opening and closing remarks — what should have been a simple minute-long elevator pitch to voters — Ford constantly looked down to read from notes.

It probably doesn't matter one iota to many voters, but it sure risks prompting some of those who watch to conclude that Ford's words aren't authentically his.