Ford admits to ‘bumps in the road’
Premier acknowledges challenges at the halfway point of PCs’ mandate
As Premier Doug Ford marks the second anniversary of taking office, he is acknowledging the challenges his Progressive Conservatives have faced at the halfway point of their mandate.
Ford was sworn in on June 29, 2018, ending almost 15 years of Liberal rule under premiers Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty. He conceded he’s learned on the job after a rocky start.
“Anyone who says they don’t make mistakes or (face) bumps in the road would be lying to you,” he said Friday at Queen’s Park.
“There’s always areas to grow — grow into the position. I think our government has, as a whole.”
But Monday’s second anniversary falls against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed about 2,700 people in Ontario, cost 1.15 million jobs, doubled the projected deficit to $20.5 billion, and left the province in a state of emergency since March 17.
“My main focus right now … is COVID and the health and well-being of the people of Ontario,” the premier said.
“Almost right beside it is getting the economy going. It’s going to be a challenge, but we’ll get there because everyone has pitched in.”
Public opinion polls for the Star suggest Ford is in far better political shape today than he was on his government’s first anniversary.
Last June, he was loudly booed at the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship celebration at Nathan Phillips Square while Mayor John Tory and
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were cheered.
In July, a poll found just 20 per cent of respondents approved of the job he was doing while 69 per cent disapproved and 11 per cent had no opinion, for an overall approval rating of -49 per cent.
“We did a lot of tough decisions in the first year,” he conceded Friday.
Earlier this month, a Campaign Research-Toronto Star survey found 53 per cent approved of Ford’s performance, while 22 per cent disapproved and 22 per cent had no opinion, for an overall approval rating of 31 per cent — an 80-point swing from last year.
“He’s found his footing. He reads his briefing books and he has better people around him,” said one high-ranking Conservative, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal matters.
“It’s night and day from last year,” said the Tory, referring to the problems that bedevilled the government last summer.
After a poorly received April 2019 budget — featuring faulty blue licence plates that have since been scrapped, and controversial cuts to municipal public health funding that were reversed before the pandemic — Ford shuffled his cabinet just 10 weeks later.
The Tories were then immediately plunged into a cronyism scandal that led to the departure of the premier’s mercurial chief of staff, Dean French.
French, a Ford neighbour who still has some personal contact with the premier, was also removed from the Tory re-election campaign.
His replacement, Jamie Wallace, is a former Queen’s Park press gallery president and top Postmedia newspaper executive who is described as a more cerebral and methodical chief of staff.
“Jamie is so good for the premier. He understands government, he treats cabinet and caucus and the (Ontario public service) with respect,” said one minister, who frequently clashed with French over strategy.
The minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said cabinet meetings are now much more businesslike and professional, with members unafraid to air dissenting views.
In the early days, ministers were often too intimidated to speak out against “the centre” — as the premier’s office is known — resulting in decisions like Ford’s aborted 2018 scheme to have his pal, Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner, become commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Other controversies driven from the centre included unilaterally slashing the size of Toronto city council in the middle of the 2018 municipal election, and ordering gas stations to post PC-blue political stickers on gas pumps that attacked the federal government’s carbon-pricing measures.
Friends confide Ford was “humbled” by how Trudeau’s Liberals successfully used his unpopularity to defeat Andrew Scheer’s federal Conservatives last October. The prime minister mentioned Ford almost every day on the hustings while Scheer wouldn’t even utter his name while campaigning steps from the premier’s home in Etobicoke.
“That really stung and I think he took it to heart,” said a Ford confidant, speaking on background to relay private chats.
Indeed, the premier’s performance during the pandemic has won praise — his daily media updates are closely watched across Ontario — in part because of his insistence on listening to public health experts. When Tory MPPs were lobbying him hard to open up the economy more quickly, he resisted, telling them that the doctors and scientists did not think it was safe.
While Quebec is moving to weekly COVID-19 updates, Ford said Ontario’s will remain daily in the interest of “transparency.”
With the pandemic ongoing, Ford was asked Friday if the 2022 provincial election might have to be delayed.
“That’s too far ahead. Really hasn’t crossed my mind.”