National Post (National Edition)
Difficult to know what’s coming as Doug Ford sworn in as Ontario premier.
Agenda is historically ambitious
Friday’s swearing-in ceremony for Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his 20 cabinet ministers was entirely normal. There were bagpipes, civil servants, protocol officers. Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell paid homage to the land on which Queen’s Park sits as a traditional gathering place of the Mississaugas of the New Credit. Everything was in its right place.
Well, of course it was normal. No one expected Don Cherry to pop out in a pink suit and start insulting people, as he did at the late Rob Ford’s swearingin ceremony at Toronto City Hall in 2010. But these (like those) are not normal times. The June 7 election has many in this province fearing four years of savage budget cuts and unceasing political chaos, and many others eagerly anticipating everything from billions in new spending on health care and infrastructure (which Ford promised) to balanced budgets and debt paydowns (which Ford didn’t promise, but which many of his supporters say they expect nevertheless).
In short, it’s very difficult to know what’s coming down the pike.
But on Friday one could imagine nothing much had changed. The official ceremony in the legislature foyer was followed by an outdoor event, where Ford reaffirmed his oath before perhaps 1,000 invited guests and members of the public. It was “a break from convention,” he said, and it’s both on-brand and entirely appropriate: Why should the swearing in of a premier and executive council be closed to the public? But even that wasn’t entirely novel: David Peterson was sworn in outside in 1985, and even invited members of the public to tour his office.
Neither Kathleen Wynne nor Dalton McGuinty attended Friday’s event, but other former premiers of all stripes did: Bill Davis, Peterson, Bob Rae, Mike Harris, Ernie Eves. And while Ford’s cabinet won’t please those who demand gender equity and ethnic minority representation, it is notable for its stolidity and legislative experience. Thirteen of the 20 ministers are veterans at Queen’s Park, while Greg Rickford (energy, northern development and Indigenous affairs) served briefly in Stephen Harper’s cabinet. At health and finance, respectively, Christine Elliott
DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHAT’S COMING DOWN THE PIKE.
and Vic Fedeli both take over files they know backward and forward from their critic days. Jim Wilson (economic development) held four different cabinet portfolios under Harris and Eves. And relatively high-profile new faces like Peter Bethlenfalvy (treasury board), Caroline Mulroney (attorney-general) and Rod Phillips (environment) should be quick studies.
There are no shocking omissions or inclusions. It’s a cabinet any of the leading contenders for the party leadership might have chosen. Were Ford not its president, people wouldn’t be writhing in such agonized anticipation.
Has Ford finally, permanently, toned it down? He’ll face the legislature and new opposition leader Andrea Horwath on July 9, for a rare summer session. Question period could be rather revealing. But he has put on a good show recently. His policy announcements since the election have been questionable: it’s unclear if even he knows exactly how they’re going to wind down cap-andtrade; he promises to keep the Pickering nuclear power plant open to preserve jobs, which is not a good reason to prefer a source of electricity; his musings about building a subway to Pickering are even more insane than the baseline insanity of GTA transit debates.
But he has been perfectly civil, perfectly calm. His remarks outside Queen’s Park, while windy and circuitous and vague, were upbeat and positive and inclusive: “I stand before you today, truly humbled by the trust you have put in me, and intensely aware of the tremendous task that lies ahead,” he said. “And (from) those who did not vote for us, all I ask is for a chance to show you that life will be better with a government that is for all the people — that life will be more affordable, that we can stand united as a province.”
I’ve been regularly admonished to give Ford a chance in recent weeks and months, as I recalled the new premier’s record at Toronto city hall and made bug-eyes at his promises of billions in pain-free “efficiencies.” But of course I’m giving him a chance. So is everyone, like it or not. What other option does anyone have? Nothing good comes from expecting the worst.
Make no mistake, though. Even if Ford’s combustible personality has somehow cooled, the agenda he set out is historically ambitious. With an explicit mandate to cut spending, the Harris Tories cleaved roughly seven per cent off total program spending. They accomplished that in their second budget; by the time Harris left office it was back where it started. That was a huge feat, and a good many Ontarians still hate his guts for what went along with it.
Ford needs to find roughly the same amount of efficiencies with no mandate to cut anything, without causing a single job loss, while building hospitals and hiring nurses and keeping rural schools open and uploading subways.
Many of his supporters would clearly be happy to see him chuck that over the side and start chopping. Many others would see it as an outright declaration of war.