Now Doug Ford’s real challenge is about to begin

Doug Ford will go down in history for the stunning Progressive Conservative majority government he won in Thursday’s provincial election.

But the man who will become Ontario’s next premier and the PCs who govern with him will be remembered for a far greater achievement if they use that power wisely and well — not just for the voters who elected them but for all those who did not.

It is undeniable that Ford captured a solid majority of the legislature — 76 out of 124 seats and 40.5 per cent of the popular vote. He has a to-do list and the political muscle and right to do it all, whatever his opponents think.

But democracy is a delicate, as well as dynamic, political instrument. Ford must not hone the system’s edge and wield it as a weapon to skewer opponents and further split an already-fractured province.

Just look at how this election has redrawn Ontario’s electoral map. A PC-blue tidal wave has washed over most of southern Ontario, leaving some New Democratic Party islands and even fewer Liberal outcroppings. In contrast, most of Northern Ontario embraced the NDP orange crush.

Today, a political Grand Canyon divides the province. On one side stand the rural and suburban Tory strongholds. Facing them warily across the divide are the NDP bastions in the cores of urban areas such as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Windsor, Niagara Falls — and, of course, Kitchener and Waterloo. As for the seven Liberal MPPs, they’re a scattered, spent force.

Meanwhile, there’s a danger that Ford, who vows to scrap the carbon-tax initiative demanded by the federal Liberals, will hammer new cracks into Canada’s already fractious federation.

To be sure, Ford can dance exclusively with the PC voters who brought him to this party as well as their federal Conservative cousins. That would be a mistake.

Today’s Progressive Conservatives need only look at the example set by the Tories of Mike Harris Senior.

Yes, they won back-to-back majorities in 1995 and 1999 and, out of necessity, tried to tame surging provincial deficits and debt. Yet the Conservatives’ unrelenting, ideological attacks so grievously antagonized Ontario’s public sector workers and union activists that the party was locked out of power for 15 years.

Political wisdom as well as common decency should persuade today’s PCs to choose a different path.

They should concentrate on what they can build and rebuild, not what they can tear down. They should seek out the priorities and values they share with their opponents, even if they cannot agree on how to promote them. They should honour Ontario’s traditional role of being Confederation’s strongest, most reliable pillar.

Such advice, and such a plea, applies to the NDP and Liberals, as well as the sole Green Party MPP. Yes, they are the political check on this majority government. Can they propose as well as oppose? Can they get beyond demonizing a populist premier who is too easily and often inaccurately compared to U.S. President Donald Trump?

Is there common ground for them to occupy with Progressive Conservative MPPs such as Christine Elliott, Rod Phillips and Caroline Mulroney, who seem to be reasonable, moderate centrists?

As for the rest of us, the citizens of a province that is wonderful but in need of tender, loving care, we have a role to play in this polarized political landscape.

Those who voted Thursday exercised their political right. Now’s the time for all Ontarians to exercise their political understanding.