OK, Mr. Ford: Get it done
It’s Doug Ford’s Ontario. That’s the undeniable outcome of Thursday’s provincial election in which Ford and his Progressive Conservatives won a massive majority mandate to govern for the next four years with a solid 41 per cent of the popular vote. And whether or not you like it, they did it fair, square and with some brains.
Just three years ago, a triumph of this magnitude for the PCs and Ford personally seemed as unlikely as an ice storm in a July heat wave. Ford barged through his first year in office like a bull in a china shop with scandals to the right of him and blunders to the left. His personal popularity hit rock bottom in 2019 when a crowd of 10,000 people celebrating the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship heartily booed the premier after he appeared before them. More than a sour joke, he and the PCs had become the doormat people wanted to wipe their feet on. And June 2, 2022, loomed like their best-before date, the day they’d get tossed.
To his credit, Ford changed his ways and, in so doing, the PC party itself. That’s why they won more seats this time around than in 2018.
In place of the raging bull was a teddy bear with a radiant smile. Ford listened to new — and wiser — advisers. Unlike his immediate Tory predecessors, he reached out to union leaders and members alike. The pandemic that struck in 2020 proved even more of a turning point; so much so that it’s like Ford had two distinct terms in office, one pre-, the other post-COVID-19.
In the first he was the snarky bean-counting fiscal conservative fixated on cost cuts and containment. In the second came the proud practitioner of Big Government, ready to offer a helping hand, even proceeding with the very minimum-wage hike he’d previously cancelled. Doubters of this assessment should keep in mind that the $198.6-billion budget proposed by the PCs before the election is the costliest in Ontario history.
If this sounds like a ringing endorsement of the new government, it isn’t. Rather, it’s a somewhat grudging acknowledgement of how the PCs shifted in at least some positive ways toward a more moderate centre.
It’s also recognition they waged a shrewd election campaign, even though we’re troubled by how many Tory candidates avoided public election forums, and how much the premier loved dodging inquisitive reporters. Voters should have demanded more — more visibility and more accountability — on the part of the PCs. The fact that only 43 per cent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot — the lowest in Ontario history and only the second time less than half the electorate failed to exercise its franchise — shows how little millions of citizens cared. Perhaps their silence means consent.
Or maybe it reflects their reluctance to elect an alternative party. Ford’s commanding victory represents a huge setback for the New Democrats who, while retaining official Opposition status, lost nine seats and leader Andrea Horwath. She tendered her resignation on election night, despite regaining her own Hamilton seat.
The voters’ verdict was even more crushing for the Liberals. Their seat count rose by just one to a total of eight, meaning they fell short of regaining official party status in the legislature. With the resignation of their leader, Steven Del Duca who bowed out on election night after failing to win his own seat, they’re starting from scratch in yet another rebuild.
The coming weeks should provide an opportunity for some soul-searching on the part of the New Democrats, Liberals and Greens, progressive parties that shared many platform policies and collectively received 54 per cent of votes cast. Having fought each other in this election, will they do the same in 2026? Do their political brands matter more than the product they would deliver? Uniting or even somehow co-operating more would represent a dramatic change for these parties. At least they have ample time to ponder it.
As for the PCs, when their deserved celebrations are over it will be time to end their back-patting and roll up their sleeves. Ontario needs effective action on building more affordable housing, securing more long-term-care beds, improving our hospitals, tackling climate change and preparing for the economic recession that could be headed this way.
In this election, Ford campaigned with the somewhat ambiguous slogan, “Let’s get it done.” Four years from now, he’ll be judged by what, in fact, his do-over has done for Ontario.