Tips for Doug Ford during his second term

It’s OK to hold off starting the 2026 campaign

Although the size of Doug Ford’s election victory was surprising, the fact that he won was hardly shocking. Voters often reward first-term governments with another mandate.

Now for the tricky part — the second term.

Second-term governments are strange animals. On the one hand, those in power better understand the intricacies of governing. At the same time, with the novelty having worn off, voters are usually less patient and more open to the scariest word in the political dictionary for those in power — change.

How should the Ford government approach the next four years?

Having lived through several second-term governments as both a staffer in the Prime Minister’s Office and a cabinet minister at Queen’s Park, let me offer some free advice.

The first involves humility. A big chunk of politics depends on luck and timing. The Ford Tories should realize that their victory doesn’t mean that they are the best thing since sliced raisin bread and resist the temptation to believe their own election ads.

My advice: Start every day reciting an easy mantra — 60 per cent of voters didn’t support us.

That doesn’t mean that they should ignore those that sent them to Queen’s Park. They need to “get it done” by delivering on their election promises in a systematic way. But the Ford government also needs to acknowledge that there are those with different perspectives. Find ways to meet them halfway and use the next four years to gain the trust of at least some of them.

To that end, his government should reach out beyond the usual suspects for advice. The Ford government should lift the freeze on hiring new public servants and start to recruit young, bright people with creative ideas. The list of problems waiting to be solved are so overwhelming that they need a civil service that is up to the job.

Ford needs to find an effective way to engage his caucus. Short of appointing an 80-member cabinet, he is going to have lots of disappointed Conservative members who feel that they deserve a ministerial car and driver. Put them to work fast on dealing with the long list of problems facing our province.

In doing all this, avoid getting caught in the Queen’s Park bubble. It is easy for second-term governments to become resentful toward citizens who seem incapable of understanding the complexity of issues. The answer is not to retreat inside comfortable government boardrooms. You need to double-down on your interactions with ordinary Ontarians, doing as much listening as talking.

Stop campaigning for a while. We live in the era of the permanent campaign where from Day 1 everyone is trying to gain a partisan advantage. Voters are sick of politics and politicians. Ford needs simply to govern over the next few years and not start fighting the 2026 campaign the day after this election.

Finally, one of Ford’s greatest strengths was that he seemed to understand what it meant to be a Progressive Conservative in Ontario in the early 2020s. Second-term governments are notorious for losing the narrative of their own story and the big test is whether he and his party will understand who they are four years from now.

Remember, if you don’t know what you are all about, how can you convince the voters?