The next Ontario election is scheduled to be held in June 2022. As is often said a week is a long time in politics and anything can happen during the next year and a half. Although it is not meaningful to predict election results this far out, it sure is fun.
It is a matter of common sense if nothing else that it is a lot more difficult to prove a negative than it is to prove a positive. But not in this case. As it appears now the winner of the next provincial election will not be Douglas Robert Ford. Who will win is still up for grabs.
Ford first held political office in 2010 when elected as a Toronto city councillor. He won the seat previously held for 10 years by his brother Rob who in that same year was elected mayor of the city.
Ford loved the dictatorial powers he granted unto himself
Rob campaigned and governed on the principle he was for the little guy; the ordinary hard-working taxpayer whose taxes were wasted by the elites. Stopping the gravy train, lowering taxes and helping ordinary people were the hallmarks of his four years in office.
Doug mirrored the policies of his late brother and many of us assumed he and Rob were two peas in a pod. When Doug first successfully ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and then won a majority government and became premier in 2018, he ran on the same platform as Rob. His main priority was to help the little guy. Members of Ford Nation and a lot of others loved his populist stance.
It was all a sham. After being elected premier with a majority government he turned out to be nothing like his brother. After the COVID lockdowns began in March it was obviously he loved the dictatorial powers he granted unto himself. The suffering of the “little guy” whose businesses Ford closed down or whose jobs was lost meant little. Like a true liberal Doug threw money at these people and then patted himself on the back. The psychological effects of someone becoming unemployed through no fault of their own or losing their small business meant nothing to him.
The Premier, like the good politically correct boy he is, had nothing to say when ANTIFA and Black Lives Matters demonstrated during the so-called pandemic. But when members of his base protested his closures he called them “yahoos” and “buffoons.” This proved one thing; he is certainly no Hillary Clinton. When Clinton called people a “basket of deplorables” at least she insulted Trump supporters not her own base such as it was. Yes Doug Ford is no Hillary Clinton; let that sink in for a moment.
“I absolutely love Chrystia Freedland. She’s amazing. I’ll have her back, I’ll help her in any way we can.”
As a provincial premier he has to often work hand in hand with the federal government. And yes there are some occasions when the feds should be thanked for their help. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist although perhaps it takes someone more intelligent than Ford to realize his base doesn’t like the federal Liberals. So what does he do? Well, rather than just simply thank them for helping Ontario he heaped praise on both Trudeau and Deputy PM Chrystia Freedland. On the latter’s appointment as Finance Minister, something for which she has no background in, Ford said, “I absolutely love Chrystia Freedland. She’s amazing. I’ll have her back, I’ll help her in any way we can.” (Toronto Star, Aug. 18, 2020) Ford obviously cares more for the federal elites than he does for the “little guy” in his base.
As his base, especially the real conservatives as opposed to the “anyone’s better than Wynne crowd” can’t stand the Liberals in general and Trudeau and Freedland in particular the above statement was made to suck up to the federal government while disregarding the feelings of those who voted for him. He’s in love with Freedland while his base is nothing more than buffoons and yahoos.
There are some Progressive Conservative supporters who are scared to death of dying from COVID who think Ford is doing a great job keeping them alive and that’s all that matters. These people, assuming they don’t die from the COVID, will vote for him again in 2022. But his true blue supporters will abandon him because of his so little concern for those who are unable to work because of restrictions and lockdowns and his tendency, like the Liberals he’s in love with, of solving everything by throwing money at it. Ford will definitely be a one-termer and the anti-Kathleen Wynne Liberals cannot be counted upon to vote for him again.
So who will form the next government in Ontario? There are two realistic possibilities but that will be left for another column.
The next Ontario election is scheduled to be held in June 2022. As is often said a week is a long time in politics and anything can happen during the next year and a half. Although it is not meaningful to predict election results this far out, it sure is fun.
It is a matter of common sense if nothing else that it is a lot more difficult to prove a negative than it is to prove a positive. But not in this case. As it appears now the winner of the next provincial election will not be Douglas Robert Ford. Who will win is still up for grabs.
Ford first held political office in 2010 when elected as a Toronto city councillor. He won the seat previously held for 10 years by his brother Rob who in that same year was elected mayor of the city.
