Is Doug Ford’s inner circle corrupt or just incompetent?

Early in his career in provincial politics, Doug Ford loved to paint Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government as corrupt and scandal-ridden.

Ford called the former premier’s handling of Ontario’s finances “the biggest government scandal in a generation,” accused her of “shady tricks” and suggested she and others in her government should be jailed for how they had run the province.

Now, barely a year into power, it’s Ford and his team who are at the centre of a scandal and whose mishandling of day-today governing is so profound that it raises serious doubts about their competence.

Are Ford and his team corrupt or just incredibly incompetent? Or worse, are they a bit of both?

These are questions Ontario residents are asking this summer — and likely will continue to ask until the next election in three years’ time.

Already, though, Ontarians seem fed up with Ford and his government. A new survey by Corbett Communications for Torstar released this week indicates almost 60 per cent believe the Ford government is corrupt and some 59 per cent feel the current patronage scandal is not over. Barely 20 per cent of those surveyed approve of the job Ford is doing.

The blame for much of the charges of patronage and incompetence lies at Ford’s feet. To date, seven people have been dumped from their jobs in the current cronyism scandal, including Ford’s chief of staff Dean French.

On the incompetence side, embarrassing examples emerge almost daily. This week alone Health Minister Christine Elliott was forced to set the record straight on Ford’s pledge last week that hallway medicine would be over within a year. Not so fast, Elliott said on Monday, it will take many more years than just one.

And a spokesperson in Ford’s own office on Tuesday had to “clarify” Ford’s comments last week that the Treasury Board will now review new political appointments. Not so fast, the spokesperson suggested, the premier’s office will still review the appointments while the Treasury Board will only look at whether the process can be improved. Can Ford turn his fortunes around? One veteran Tory communication adviser suggested to me that, as a start, Ford needs to say he’s made mistakes and learned from them, and then move on.

But Ford lacks introspection. Instead of taking responsibility for self-inflicted wounds, he blames the media, “lefties” and “multimillion-dollar unions” for creating the impression that he runs an amateur-hour government.

Unless Ford does a total reset, the adviser said, he may eventually face challenges from within his own cabinet. So far veteran Queen’s Park observers say they’ve never seen a cabinet or caucus so intimidated by a premier as this one.

Ford’s cabinet surely is traumatized by what’s gone on over the last year — the bullying by French of MPPs and staffers, the seeming lack of a coherent, integrated strategy, and most recently the patronage fiasco. Ford engendered no additional loyalty from his caucus when he demoted his so-called good friend Vic Fedeli in June’s cabinet shuffle. You can bet the other cabinet members took notice.

One minister high on Ford’s inner circle’s “bad list” is Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, who they apparently feel is no longer playing ball with them. Mulroney reportedly had some difficult interactions with French before he resigned, which Ford ignored when they were brought to his attention.

The fact Ford allowed French to run roughshod at Queen’s Park for so long displays a shocking lack of judgment, or character, or both. Ford knew what was happening and did nothing, until the pain of the cronyism scandal grew too great.

Corruption or incompetence or both? A question whose answer may be obvious to everyone — except Ford.