Hubris, and fantasy
Doug Ford’s dearth of experience in an elected legislature is not fatal to his electoral hopes. But his ignorance about how parliamentary democracy works perhaps should be.
In his peculiar utterings this week during an ungainly back-flip on developing Ontario’s Greenbelt, Ford revealed an utter lack of understanding about the nature of the post he seeks.
The novice Progressive Conservative leader had shoved a foot in his mouth by telling property developers that, should be become premier after the June 7 election, he would open up a “big chunk” of the Greenbelt to housing construction.
In hastily retracting that recklessness, Ford explained his break-neck reversal. “Very simple, that’s it. The people have spoken.” “I govern through the people. I don’t govern through government.”
Those alarming sentences would surely have had the Fathers of Confederation coughing up whisky at their celestial poker game. Any first minister seeking to govern other than through responsible government would be no friend of theirs — or of anyone else averse to autocrats and tyrants. “The people have spoken.” By what fair and reliable mechanism, what vote, plebiscite or referendum, had they done so? “I govern through the people.” In fact, Doug Ford does not govern anything. “I don’t govern through government.” If Ford believes that, he’d best study up on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
In Canada, federally and provincially, governments operate under the principle of responsible government. Parliament is the body made up of politicians who are responsible to their electors and tasked with making and repealing laws. The executive — the premier and cabinet — must maintain the confidence of that parliament, or lose power.
The PC leader might be surprised to learn the concept of parliamentary democracy dates back to times even before the establishment of FordFest.
It is derived from parler, French for “to speak.” And from the Greek demos, meaning “people.” And kratia, meaning “rule.”
In Ontario, the people’s will is determined and expressed through parliament. Implementation of that will is carried out by a complex structure of, like it or not, government serving a vast geographical area. Not, say, by rich men tossing out $20 bills. By the sounds of things, Ford is patterning his campaign on Donald Trump’s “I alone can fix it” boast in the U.S. presidential campaign of 2016. Such hubris is mere fantasy on the part of the boaster. And utter folly on the part of those who buy it.