Cohn: Ford caught up in his own hyperbole,
Thanks to his swearing-in, we now know that Doug Ford’s government will be unlike any other in Ontario’s political history.
Not just in boldness but boastfulness. Not only in haste but hubris. Not merely in symbolic gestures but shameless self-promotion.
Taking the oath as premier sets a tone and conveys an image. First impressions, favourable or not, count for a lot.
In Friday’s first official news release, Ford’s Tories anointed themselves as “Ontario’s First Ever Government for the People.” First. Ever. What does that say about the Progressive Conservative governments of Mike Harris and Bill Davis that came before him? Apparently not governments for the people.
With Davis, Harris, and other past premiers listening in Friday’s blazing noon sun, Ford hailed his decision to “break with convention” by holding a swearing-in ceremony outdoors — for the people.
“Out here with you — out here in the open before all of you, before the people,” he proclaimed to the 1,000 VIPs who made it onto his guest list, and were escorted past a rope line to their reserved seats.
Ford’s bizarre boast would have jarred David Peterson’s ears as he listened, given that his Liberal government was, in fact, the first to hold an outdoor ceremony in 1985 after toppling a Tory dynasty. Amusing amnesia, but a hint of historical lapses to come.
Reading from his twin teleprompters in front of the legislature’s pink sandstone facade, Ford offered conflicting messages — not only to the invited VIPs, but another 1,000 supporters and opponents kept behind metal barriers 100 metres away. Among the most glaring contradictions of the day from Ford’s script:
Ontario’s multiculturalism is a strength. Yet Ontario’s new cabinet is almost all white, with only one visible minority member out of 21 to reflect the province’s diversity.
Ontario’s economy will grow. Yet Ontario’s biggest economic driver, Toronto, is almost absent from cabinet, with only one junior minister apart from Ford himself.
Ford promised to boost Ontario’s economic growth to a level “the likes of which this province has never seen before.” Better than Davis and John Robarts did in boom times? More than in the last few years when Ontario led the industrialized world in economic growth and drove the unemployment rate down to an enviable 5.5 per cent?
On the one hand, Ford exhorted Ontarians of all political stripes to unite under a common vision: “Those who did not vote for us ... we must cross party lines, we must put aside political differences, no matter if it’s red, blue, green or orange ... coming together under a singular purpose, under a united vision.”
But in his next breath, Ford castigated — unfairly and ungenerously — his (red) Liberal predecessors for leaving a legacy of “crippling interest payments” (debt repayment is far lower, as a percentage of revenues, than under previous PC governments), and a “crumbling infrastructure” (ignoring those brownouts when Tories starved the electricity system).
For all his idle boasts of breaking convention Friday, there were more interesting departures from tradition — beyond the outdoor photo-op where he merely re-enacted the swearing-in ceremony that had already taken place indoors with an even more select group of dignitaries, friends and family.
Consider instead Ford’s refus- al to hold the traditional news conference where a premier takes questions from the media, instead granting his only formal interview on his first day as premier to the private Progressive Conservative news feed (“Ford Nation Live”) that helped propel him to power.
Or listen to the Tories’ unprecedented chutzpah — and violation of protocol — in playing the PC campaign theme song, “For The People,” while Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell was still on hand in her non-partisan role representing the crown:
“Bring us hope, bring us change,” the specially written pro-Ford song exhorts. “For the people! Hey!” the lyrics loop, over and over.
While Ford’s proprietary political anthem blared over a non-partisan, taxpayer-funded event, a group of apolitical public servants was cooling its heels under the searing noon sun.
In full uniform, the Commissioner’s Own Pipes and Drums of the Ontario Provincial Police waited for its turn to play, as the group so often does at such historic occasions. And waited and waited, while Ford’s personal theme song paid tribute to our new premier’s greatness.
Political honeymoons are wonderful to watch, infusing people with optimism and enthusiasm. But when a politician falls in love with his honeymoon, and his own hyperbole, his hubris is never far behind.