Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

[Thinker]

Doug must have forgotten about telling someone to go to Hell....

Yep, I was told where to go and called a piece of shit and bitch. Not all in one sentence, but nevertheless.

 

[Thorns_Embrace]

You would think that our uiniversity educated students should be able to communicate better than college drop out Doug Ford. I mean that is why we are subsidizing their education right?

 

[Thinker]

You would think that our uiniversity educated students should be able to communicate better than college drop out Doug Ford. I mean that is why we are subsidizing their education right?

OK then it's OK for high school dropout Doug (remember he was a councillor and now premier) to cuss and swear at people and those who are attending continued education are not? Ummmm yeah, well to be honest, Doug can dish it out, but doesn't like it when he's on the receiving end. (the more accurate version)

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

OK then it's OK for high school dropout Doug (remember he was a councillor and now premier) to cuss and swear at people and those who are attending continued education are not? Ummmm yeah, well to be honest, Doug can dish it out, but doesn't like it when he's on the receiving end. (the more accurate version)

Ford needs to take chill pill. Aside from being uneducated, he only became premier because people were sick of the Libs.

 

[JasonParis]

...in office have not been a raft of unending accomplishments (to put it charitably) is really indisputable fact.
If you come here and on that basis adversely judge most forumers here........you were never fit for any discussion forum where educated and thoughtful discourse is the norm.

This is also Urban Toronto. Regardless of Doug Ford's party/politics, he's an anti-urban simpleton. It's not the least bit surprising that he's not particularly popular on here.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

This is also Urban Toronto. Regardless of Doug Ford's party/politics, he's an anti-urban simpleton. It's not the least bit surprising that he's not particularly popular on here.

If the website name was SuburbanToronto, then I am fairly certain more people on the site would like him. I like him, and I also don't. It's hard to say if Ford and Friends ( sounds like the name to a great TV show, doesn't it!) will actually try and make an effort within the next 3 years. 5 cents has been completed.

 

[Videodrome]

[B]Laura Stone[/B]‏Verified account @[B]l_stone[/B]
FollowingFollowing @l_stone
More
#BREAKING: MPP ⁦@randyhillier⁩ has been suspended from the PC caucus for “disrespectful comments” to parents of autistic children. Parents said Mr. Hillier said “yada yada” to them about their concerns on his way of our QP today #onpoli

Interesting.

EDIT:

[B]Mike Crawley[/B]‏Verified account @[B]CBCQueensPark[/B]
FollowingFollowing @CBCQueensPark
More
My sources are telling me the PCs have been looking for an excuse to dump @randyhillier from caucus, because he's been the only MPP willing to stand up to Premier Doug Ford's team, in particular to chief of staff @Dean_French. #onpoli

 

[W. K. Lis]

Interesting.

EDIT:

Why doesn't Doug Ford suspend himself for his own remarks in 2014?

Doug Ford defends 'nightmare' comments made about autism group home

See link.

Toronto city councillor Doug Ford has re-affirmed his stance against a group home in a west Etobicoke neighbourhood, saying the home’s presence has dropped property values and become a “nightmare” for locals.

The Ward 2 councillor said he was misled when representatives from the Griffin Centre proposed putting a home for the developmentally disabled, including those with autism, in the neighbourhood. In the two months since the Griffin Centre opened, Ford said residents have reported constant visits from police, EMS and fire, repeated car break-ins and late-night screaming at the house. He also said Griffin Centre patients have been leaving the home unsupervised, contrary to what he was told before the facility moved in.

“They said they would have a few kids with autism and they wouldn’t leave the house unsupervised, and my heart goes out to families that have children with autism and I wanted to try to help,” Ford told CP24 in a telephone interview on Sunday.

“If somebody told me this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have OK’d it.”

Ford also said the group home has driven property values in the region down by $150,000 “overnight.”

Ford was responding to earlier comments he allegedly made that were reported in an Etobicoke community newspaper. Ford was quoted in the Etobicoke Guardian as telling members of the Griffin Centre that they’d “ruined the community,” during a meeting on Friday.

“People have worked 30 years for their home,” he allegedly said. “My heart goes out to kids with autism. But no one told me they’d be leaving the house. If it comes down to it, I’ll buy the house myself and resell it.”

The alleged comments sparked an uproar on social media, with many accusing Ford of discriminating against those with autism. Even former Liberal MP Bob Rae got in on it.

Ford dismissed Rae’s Twitter comments in his interview with CP24, saying: “Maybe we should put the house beside his house because I know he lives in an absolutely gorgeous area.”

Ford also lashed out at the Ontario Liberals, blaming Leader Kathleen Wynne, who was not premier at the time, for closing the Thistletown Regional Health Centre in 2012.

“Since she has closed that down, they had dispersed these folks throughout the west end,” he said. “Where’s the money from the Liberal government for the facility that they closed down?”

Former Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government began redistributing patients from the Thistletown Regional Health Centre in 2012 ahead of its eventual closure, which happened last March. That’s when five patients moved into the Griffin Centre.

Wynne did not directly address Ford's comments on Sunday, but she did say her last budget before the election would have allocated $810 million over three years to help those with developmental disabilities. She blamed the Progressive Conservatives and NDP for rejecting the budget and triggering a provincial election.

A representative from the Griffin Centre said the organization is disappointed with Ford’s comments.

“We had several contacts with Mr. Ford prior to opening the residence and prior to the community meeting,” the representative said in a statement. “We are shocked by his negative comments and lack of support.

“We will continue to work at building a positive relationship with neighbours and answer any questions or concerns they may have.”

But Ford said he was misled, and the Ontario Liberals are to blame for the situation.

“Anyone who wants to criticize, I’d be more than happy to take their address,” Ford said. “We’ll put the house right next door to them and we’ll see how they like it.”

 

[Videodrome]

So, Doug is giving a failed PC candidate a plum position with his government.

 

[pman]

So, Doug is giving a failed PC candidate a plum position with his government.

My God! That’s never happened before in Canadian politics!

 

[tiffer24]

“All the cronyism, and the political elites, the political establishment, the political insiders, they're done, they’re gone." Doug Ford, campaign promise, June 2018

Minister defends $140K standardized testing job for failed Tory candidate

Cameron Montgomery, an unsuccessful candidate for the Progressive Conservatives last year, was announced recently as the new full-time chair of the board of directors of the Education Quality and Accountability Office, a position that had previously been part-time with an up to $225 per diem.

 

[John_Dee]

I stopped coming to urban Toronto, months and months ago until today and now I l\know why I stayed away. This garbage with people on here refusing to accept the Liberals lost and the things said about Ford and how the l.iberals got away with murder.

Awwww, sure is tough up on that cross, isn't it, Palma? Did you hammer in the nails yourself or get someone else to do it? Most (if not all) of the people here voted against the Liberals in the last election, you incompetent. Unlike yourself, we aren't willing to give Thug a pass for the exact same things that you were screaming at Wynne for. Hypocrite.

OK then it's OK for high school dropout Doug (remember he was a councillor and now premier) to cuss and swear at people and those who are attending continued education are not? Ummmm yeah, well to be honest, Doug can dish it out, but doesn't like it when he's on the receiving end.

Very typical for Thug, a true example of the overgrown schoolyard bully type if we ever saw one. He can dole out the ugliest abuse and unfair, dishonest attacks by the bucketload, but he shrieks like an affronted teenaged girl if anyone so much as politely disagrees with him. Never mind if they actually have the bad taste to hit back, even if it's above the belt. Never mind if they use even a scintilla of the vicious street-fighter tactics that he always stoops to as a given.

My God! That’s never happened before in Canadian politics!

You honestly have to laugh at the sheer, in-your-face hypocrisy of Thug Ford's rabid fanbase. "Wynne's appointed a crony to head Hydro and he got a huge pay raise! It's the greatest evil ever committed!!!!" A list is then provided of the cronies Thug has appointed to high paying positions, whether they qualify or not. "Oh, well, what's the big deal? Everybody does it!" This would be hilarious if it weren't so contemptible.

 

[adma]

Toronto upset about $1250 tickets to eat dinner with Doug Ford

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his own honour this week amidst criticism over his decision to host a $1,250 per ticket fundraiser on behalf o…

www.blogto.com

What I find interesting through the various newspaper articles is how these high-pressure lobbying tactics were motivated by "lagging ticket sales"--i.e. in a manner of speaking, DoFo can't fill a room on his own, so he has to resort to blackmail...

 

[W. K. Lis]

By the rich, for the rich...

Doug Ford shuts service that helps Ontario citizens fight wealthy developers

From link.

Doug Ford is dismantling a service meant to help citizens and municipalities stand up to developers — a move critics are calling a blow to local democracy.

The Local Planning Appeal Support Centre (LPASC) was set up in April 2018 under the previous Liberal government to help everyday Ontarians navigate and understand the complex planning appeals process to fight development projects that were inappropriate, unreasonable, misplaced or designed without considering municipal and provincial planning and growth guidelines.

It was created as part of a series of reforms to the Ontario Municipal Board, which, critics said, was too slow and favoured municipalities and developers, as they can afford the cost of lawyers and experts in the development appeal process. The OMB was also criticized for not deferring to local municipalities.

The LPASC received word this week that it must close its doors by June 30. It told clients and stakeholders in a statement Thursday.

"It is disappointing," Mary Lee, executive director of the LPASC, said. "This new process was about giving more accountability to municipalities and to give everybody a voice in land-use planning decision....There was a lot of work to do in the centre and it was of real value to the citizens of Ontario."

In a statement to National Observer, Brian Gray, a spokesperson for Ontario Attorney General Caroline Mulroney, said they had "to make difficult decisions about programs across the province," including winding down the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre by summer.

"Recent reforms to the land use planning and appeal system give greater weight to the decisions of local communities, while balancing development and growth in Ontario," Gray wrote. "This will ensure people and neighbourhood associations have a stronger voice in development decisions."

But critics say the decision is a step backwards and shifts power back to developers.

In a statement, Ontario NDP MPP Jeff Burch said the Ford government's decision was yet another in a long list of decisions that favoured the premier's friends. Burch said that by shutting the centre down, the Conservatives were "making things even worse for folks by stacking the deck against them, giving easier wins to powerful developers."

"This is only going to make it harder for everyday Ontarians to protect their quality of life when developers try to take advantage of people to pad their already-deep pockets," he added. "Everyday Ontarians deserve to have a say in how their communities grow."

To many it wasn't a surprise. During his election campaign, Ford promised to find a way to increase land supply, despite the fact that the provincial growth plan had allocated land for development. He has twice tried to open the province's protected greenbelt for development, and has backtracked in the face of public outrage.

Toronto City Councilor Mike Layton said shutting down the LPASC is another "bold-faced favouring of developers."

In an interview, Layton said, the government "has cut the legs from under the communities that try to appeal developments and disempowered them."

"I'm really afraid of what this means about local decision-making process," he added.

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, an early proponent of the LPASC, said he was "pleased" by the system overhaul that brought it about. "It causes me great concern knowing that Ontario’s 'government for the people' is shutting down the planning appeals assistance office for the people," he said in a statement.

Former Liberal minister of municipal affairs Ted McMeekin tweeted that the move is "going backwards."

"I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out we have a pro-development government and anything to slow down and impede the process of development is not what they like," said Mitchell Kosny, interim director of Ryerson University's School of Urban and Regional Planning.

"They don’t want anybody to get in the way of what they want, and they want more development."

'They closed it because they didn't believe in it'

Prior to the LPASC's existence, there were no resources available to members of the public interested in participating in the land use planning system in the province, and in particular in the appeals system. Still, the Ontario planning process is a field where civic engagement and the number of unrepresented individuals is high.

Many experts believed the LPASC represented a resource that was missing under the previous planning systems, and was unique to Ontario and perhaps Canada.

The body came about after extensive consultation with the province, including several town halls and an online consultation, both led by former Liberal Attorney General Yasir Naqvi.

The LPASC had a $1.5 million budget to provide legal and planning assistance to citizens groups to participate in matters before the tribunal. Before its creation, Ontarians had to hire their own experts and lawyers to testify on their behalf.

Mark Cripps, a former Liberal official in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, explained that the LPASC was modeled on the Human Rights Legal Support Centre to provide general information about land use planning, guidance to citizens on the tribunal appeal and heating process, and providing legal planning and, if required, free representation.

"It was created to level the playing field," Cripps told National Observer in an interview. During the consultations, Cripps said, he met one woman who put up $25,000 of her own money to fight an appeal against a development in downtown Toronto, and heard of countless bake sales run by communities to do the same...

 

[Videodrome]

This autism scandal just keeps on getting worse. But hey, Randy Hillier got to be a scapegoat!