King Ralph’s heir apparent?

Doug Ford shares former Alberta premier “King Ralph” Klein’s sympathy for frustrations many Canadians have towards government

Ontarians will soon be asking themselves whether a straight-talking and strong-minded municipal politician can make the leap to become an effective provincial premier. It’s a question that Albertans were faced with almost 25 years ago.

I lived in Calgary during the 1980s and 90s, and watched the often-amusing and occasionally stunning rise of Ralph Klein. To say the man was a true original would be an understatement, but that’s not to suggest that his success couldn’t be replicated.

In the dozen years since Klein retired as premier of Alberta, and in the five years since he passed away, we have seen various politicians try to emulate both his roguish appeal and rugged approach – but none have come anywhere close until now.

Doug Ford is the first candidate who could credibly claim to be an heir apparent to “King Ralph.” Ford shares some of Klein’s traits, including a sympathy and empathy for the frustrations that many “ordinary” Canadians have towards government.

The moment that clinched it for me was watching Ford launch his provincial leadership campaign from his mother’s basement. While the pundits mocked his choice, and made light of the event, it struck me as something Klein would’ve done.

While Ford may not share Klein’s faults, he might share the late King’s greatest gift – an uncanny ability to use his rough edges to convince voters that he is the real deal. Not everyone agreed with Klein, but we all knew what we were getting.

Voters like authenticity, and Ralph never hid his flaws. He made us cringe. He would show emotion. When he messed up, he fessed up – but never offered fake apologies when he felt he was in the right. He said what he did and did what he said.

Klein inherited a province that was adrift and awash with debt. In addressing the problems Albertans faced, he couched them in terms that anyone could understand. Alberta had to pay off a big mortgage, and then learn to spend less than it earned.

It was hard to swallow, but the truth often is. Klein had faith that the people of Alberta would come up with the right answers if they were given the facts. He never dumbed anything down, but had a knack for making the complex seem straightforward.

Klein was a blue-collar hero from a white-collar city. I couldn’t imagine him lounging with oil executives in the leather chairs of the Petroleum Club, just as I can’t see Ford doing so with rich investment bankers in private clubs along Bay Street.

The financial elite in Calgary might not have appreciated Klein’s lack of political correctness, but they loved his economic turnaround – which led to one of the longest periods of prosperity in Alberta’s history. After all, nothing succeeds like success. To be clear, none of this is to suggest that Doug Ford should copy Ralph Klein’s policy playbook. The challenges Ontario faces in 2018 aren’t the same as those Alberta faced in the early 1990s – and different problems require different solutions. That said, there are lessons Ford could learn from Klein. First, Ralph made a political virtue out of his political vices. He was often blunt, even painfully so, but he used that bluntness to show Albertans they didn’t need to be coddled or patronized.

Second, Ralph never pretended to be someone or something he wasn’t. He never sought to portray himself as a policy wonk or rigid ideologue, he was a fighter who relished a good brawl and liked to be judged by the friends and enemies he made. Third, Ralph laughed off any attempt to remake his image. He knew he didn’t have movie star looks, and that he wasn’t a silver-tongued orator. He persuaded others through the force of his personality and by always telling it ‘with the bark off.’

In any political campaign, there is a temptation to play to the polls – to soften, to spin, to sand down the sharp points. Yet, Canadian flea markets are filled with the campaign buttons of failed candidates who tried to win by playing it safe.

Doug Ford was elected to Toronto City Council and the leadership of the Ontario PC Party by being true to his nature and to his beliefs. I don’t know if Ford wants to try on the crown, but Ontario could use a little of King Ralph’s Midas touch.