Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

[adma]

Unfortunately, anyone with a Ford name can easily win there. The alt-right may have just been given a foothold into Toronto.

Not necessarily, unless they truly have the family juggernaut behind them--and Renata's something of an outcast (and "not blood", besides).

Though for all the pathos of her candidacy, it does reflect the likelihood of Ford Nation's social media "grassroots" (i.e. the Neil Flagg types et al) being more PPC than CPC in disposition--perhaps it's their recommendation Renata was acting on. (And I can definitely see the Penny Morrison types pounding the pavement for her)

 

[Northern Light]

You expect the Premier to fire the Premier?

Its not often I have to walk something back in this forum...........

 

[Videodrome]

Not necessarily, unless they truly have the family juggernaut behind them--and Renata's something of an outcast (and "not blood", besides).

Yes, the Ford family has a long standing relationship with the PC party, and the CPC on a federal level. Doug claimed to not be involved, but we know he will still try to "help" Scheer. She is running as part of a fringy party that can get in the way of that.

Also, one pollster commented on Twitter that he had been following trends and Doug might be the reason why Canada doesn't get sucked into right wing populism.

Frank Graves @VoiceOfFranky
16m
Replying to @PainterMom101
He may be en route to having saved Canada from falling into the thrall of Authoritarian Populism . As a vivid illustration of its possibilities

Frank Graves @VoiceOfFranky
1h
As of last night's 3 day roll of roughly 1300 cases, the CPC lead , which was 12 pts in March ,now 2 pts and within the MOE, an effective statistical tie. More worrisome than just this trajectory is the newly stable 10 pt lead for the LPC in Ontario. This would mean LPC minority

 

[W. K. Lis]

Queen’s Park Canada Day celebrations cancelled, funds redirected to other attractions | Globalnews.ca

The event has been a tradition over five decades.

globalnews.ca

They were afraid of the boo birds.

Instead of Canada Day celebrations at Queen's Park, there could be Doug Ford protests instead.

 

[adma]

Yes, the Ford family has a long standing relationship with the PC party, and the CPC on a federal level. Doug claimed to not be involved, but we know he will still try to "help" Scheer. She is running as part of a fringy party that can get in the way of that.

Also, one pollster commented on Twitter that he had been following trends and Doug might be the reason why Canada doesn't get sucked into right wing populism.

But as per my point, as much as the Fords may "project" their strategic alliance with PC/CPC, Ford Nation's own populist grassroots follows its own distinct drummer--and instinctually, Rob was more in tune with that "distinct drummer" than Doug.

And who knows even w/Doug, particularly if he somehow gets ousted from the Premiership from within--I've stated before that I can see him going on his own and setting up a People's Party of Ontario. Out of Ford Nation necessity, he's already dogwhistling the fringe, anyway--and as I've pointed out, in the last municipal election, the Faith Goldy vote and share was a little "inflated" in his own home poll, relative to said poll's demographics...

 

[Admiral Beez]

Doug Ford's dumpster fire explains why Ontario tolerates years of Liberal mismanagement: Robyn Urback

https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/doug-ford-first-year-1.5185737

 

[BurlOak]

Doug Ford's dumpster fire explains why Ontario tolerates years of Liberal mismanagement: Robyn Urback

https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/doug-ford-first-year-1.5185737View attachment 191315

No doubt that against a 2003 McGuinty, Ford would lose big time.
He won because we were coming off 15 years of politically corrupt and negligent rule by the Liberals. They made things so much worse that when people finally woke up - they realized it would not continue.
With Ford, it will be the results that matter. Most likely, things will be better in 3 years time than when Ford took over. Things will also look a little sloppier than when the Liberals were in power, because they hid their corruption well. The election result will depend on the memory of the voter.
Beyond that, again if we compare the work of McGuinty to the anticipated results of Ford, we could easily see Ford in power for over a decade. If we compare Ford to a competent leader, such as Eves, Harris or Davis, he would be out in a heartbeat.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The next ONPCP leadership review will be interesting. Unless Thug can beat his opponents to vote for him, expect a close vote.

 

[jje1000]

Interesting note that does explain some of Doug's dime-turn decisions. I think Ryne Sherman's assessment of Trump is more accurate for Ford than it is for Trump, though.

Doug Ford’s insatiable hunger to be liked
By Bob Hepburn Star Columnist
Wed., June 19, 2019

For Ford, the jeers are particularly unnerving because, despite his reputation as a tough guy and a bully, he’s really a man with an insatiable hunger to be liked — or even to be loved.

Importantly, Ontarians need to understand Ford’s desire to be liked because it has a profound impact on how he governs, how he reacts to criticism and how he deals with people.

You see it in his need to have young Queen’s Park staffers rounded up to applaud his utterances, in his need to feed off his political rallies, such as this weekend’s “Ford Fest” and in his erratic decisions to first implement, then suddenly reverse, some of his unpopular political decisions.

His hunger for applause contributes to his need to believe that while his poll numbers are down — and they show his popularity plunging and now lower than even those of former premier Kathleen Wynne on the eve of last June’s election — he still rules a huge, loving base of followers, namely Ford Nation.

Opinion | Doug Ford’s insatiable hunger to be liked

Ontario’s premier was booed at the Raptor victory parade on Monday, while the prime minister and mayor registered cheers, something that bothers the p...

www.thestar.com

 

[Thinker]

No doubt that against a 2003 McGuinty, Ford would lose big time.
He won because we were coming off 15 years of politically corrupt and negligent rule by the Liberals. They made things so much worse that when people finally woke up - they realized it would not continue.
With Ford, it will be the results that matter. Most likely, things will be better in 3 years time than when Ford took over. Things will also look a little sloppier than when the Liberals were in power, because they hid their corruption well. The election result will depend on the memory of the voter.
Beyond that, again if we compare the work of McGuinty to the anticipated results of Ford, we could easily see Ford in power for over a decade. If we compare Ford to a competent leader, such as Eves, Harris or Davis, he would be out in a heartbeat.

Let me clear a few things because this conservative fluffing is a wee bit weird.

Yes Ford was elected because of general discontent and dislike of Wynne. Whether or not they hid their their corruption well remains to be seen. Most was investigated and Wynn was not found to be involved.

Now onto, Doug Ford's stellar year in power:

Let's see, this last year we've had lawsuits, discontent, cronyism, the custom passion Van for the Premier, total chaos, service cuts, complaints of bullying, beer debacles, wages, budget cuts, meddling in municipal & transportation matters. They voted themselves a hefty wage and living allowance, increased government size whilst they rolled back wage increases on negotiated contract agreements. We now have ministers who are totally unqualified to be in charge of their assigned portfolio. Yes, voters determine the outcome of elections, but it's not for the lack of meddling and corruption and gerrymandering we have seen in the last municipal and provincial election. It was a vote of discontent, not a vote because people like Ford. So you deem this last year a little sloppy? Let's hope voters remember and vote Ford out if not earlier if the Cons hold a leadership review. Another 3 years will be filled with, service cuts, cronyism, corruption, lawsuits etc etc. because that's the way Ford operates. Dean French is getting the blame for most of the crap, but truth remains Ford should be held responsible because he was informed and in charge.

 

[BurlOak]

Let me clear a few things because this conservative fluffing is a wee bit weird.

Yes Ford was elected because of general discontent and dislike of Wynne. Whether or not they hid their their corruption well remains to be seen. Most was investigated and Wynn was not found to be involved.

Now onto, Doug Ford's stellar year in power:

Let's see, this last year we've had lawsuits, discontent, cronyism, the custom passion Van for the Premier, total chaos, service cuts, complaints of bullying, beer debacles, wages, budget cuts, meddling in municipal & transportation matters. They voted themselves a hefty wage and living allowance, increased government size whilst they rolled back wage increases on negotiated contract agreements. We now have ministers who are totally unqualified to be in charge of their assigned portfolio. Yes, voters determine the outcome of elections, but it's not for the lack of meddling and corruption and gerrymandering we have seen in the last municipal and provincial election. It was a vote of discontent, not a vote because people like Ford. So you deem this last year a little sloppy? Let's hope voters remember and vote Ford out if not earlier if the Cons hold a leadership review. Another 3 years will be filled with, service cuts, cronyism, corruption, lawsuits etc etc. because that's the way Ford operates. Dean French is getting the blame for most of the crap, but truth remains Ford should be held responsible because he was informed and in charge.

Lawsuits.

Ontario’s appeal court sides with Ford government, paves way for 25-ward Toronto election

Teachers and civil rights group lose legal challenge of Ontario’s controversial sex-ed rollback

Integrity commissioner says Ford did nothing wrong in Taverner hiring

 

[DSC]

Lawsuits.

Ontario’s appeal court sides with Ford government, paves way for 25-ward Toronto election

Teachers and civil rights group lose legal challenge of Ontario’s controversial sex-ed rollback

Integrity commissioner says Ford did nothing wrong in Taverner hiring

Though it is normally useless to try to point out the errors in your arguments, I would note that even if you MAY do something it is often NOT a good idea to do it. The "Year of the Ford' is filled with examples of divisive decisions (generally not well executed) about comparatively unimportant things that have distracted from the much more significant things the "Ford team" wanted to do. Now with the blood bath of last week it is clear there is no real 'team' and I bet that there are now many Tories who would (and will) try to dump Doug at the first possible opportunity. Loyalty, I think not!

 

[Bayer]

No doubt that against a 2003 McGuinty, Ford would lose big time.
He won because we were coming off 15 years of politically corrupt and negligent rule by the Liberals. They made things so much worse that when people finally woke up - they realized it would not continue.
With Ford, it will be the results that matter. Most likely, things will be better in 3 years time than when Ford took over. Things will also look a little sloppier than when the Liberals were in power, because they hid their corruption well. The election result will depend on the memory of the voter.
Beyond that, again if we compare the work of McGuinty to the anticipated results of Ford, we could easily see Ford in power for over a decade. If we compare Ford to a competent leader, such as Eves, Harris or Davis, he would be out in a heartbeat.

Considering Ontario's low spending and tax levels compared to other provinces, the mismanagement to which Urback refers can only be the Liberals' unwillingness to increase taxes in order to pay for the services they had implemented, which was deeply irresponsible, but I am unwilling to hop on the corruption bandwagon. You don't need to be corrupt to make stupid decisions.

Had Ford increased taxes instead of slashing, his popularity would not have dropped so precipitously, for the simple reason that most Ontarians are to the left of the Conservatives and they want good public services. Until Ford shuffled most of his cabinet, I was fully expecting the Beer Store issue to compete with the Liberal gas power plant boondoggle for sheer lunacy; we'll see what happens now - it's hard to tell, with Ford throwing his ministers under the bus while praising them and the policies they implemented.

 

[JGHali]

I expect the chaos will if anything increase. My impression is that French brought some element of organization to the chaos, albeit with copious nepotism and score-settling. Now Doug only had the voices in his head to guide him.

 

[adma]

Re Renata: I wonder if there's a "truth" to her being an influence on Rob, if not Doug--not only through codependency, but through fringe populism. Though less the neo-Nazi sort than the conspirational-crackpot sort; that is, even more than Rob, her truly being spiritually "at one" with the Neil Flagg/Arthur Smitherman crowd, or even further-out flat-earthers and UFO-believers. And Rob, being incredibly stupid and sheltered and un-worldly, relying on her pillow talk as a guideline for a "world view" outside of his own stifling clan.

So in a way, her present candidacy might be her "true colours" showing, unmitigated by the FoFam's deep ties with provincial/federal Conservative forces. Renata as a Crazytown Hillary to Rob's Bill, or something...