In the last provincial election, a little more than a year ago, I voted for Doug Ford. I did not vote for him in the leadership race. I voted for Christine Elliott, who by the way won the majority of votes. I can’t remember if it was a ranked ballot, but if it was he would have been my last choice.
Nevertheless, when the election came around I voted for him. I could not vote for the NDP who have socialist tendencies and had a shot at winning the election. There was no way I was voting for the Liberals, who after more than a decade in power left us broke: a deficit of $15 billion, an almost insurmountable debt of $347 billion and an annual interest payment of $13 billion. Think what we could have done with that. I like some of the principles that the Green Party stands for, but they had no chance of affecting the balance of power in that election. And, so, I ended up voting for Doug Ford. I saw little choice other than staying home, which I have never done.
There are some things that Doug Ford and I have in common. He believes in less rather than more government. So do I. He believes in reducing public debt and so do I. It boggles my mind that so many people in Ontario and, for that matter, Canada, recognize so strongly the threat of environmental issues to our future but ignore an equal threat to our future, of uncontrolled debt, that eventually will lead to an inability to provide basic services to people, such as health care, education and infrastructure.
Ford also believes in strong fiscal management which means spending less public money than you take in, and so do I. I guess that is why I am a Conservative, although, unlike other partisans of all stripes, I am not afraid to call my party out when I think they are wrong.
For these reasons, I was cautiously optimistic when the Ford Government won a majority a little more than a year ago. Whatever my concerns about Doug Ford, I knew he had a strong front bench with people like Christine Elliott, Caroline Mulroney and Rod Phillips. In addition, apart from politics, without personal experience with him, I found it somewhat hard to dislike the guy. He came across as affable, someone who really seems to care about people and has been, at least up to now, exceptionally accessible for a Premier. To me, he did not come across as arrogant or overly ego-driven.
The problem, however, which overrides all of this, is that it became readily apparent that Premier Ford and some of his inner circle did not know the first thing about how to run a government or how government works.
One of the early signs to me was a personal one. With the ink hardly dry on his appointment as Premier, the first thing Ford did was to cut the size of Toronto’s Council in half. There may have been legitimate reasons to do that in due course, but there was no consultation, no rationale and no plan for the consequences. It did not appear statesman-like. It appeared vindictive.
And then to add insult to injury, he stuck one more knife into his political nemesis Patrick Brown by preventing him from running for election as Regional Chair of Peel. In order to do that, of course, he had to cancel every election at large of Regional Chairs in Ontario and that is when it became personal.
I had filed to run in an election at large, for District (Regional) Chair in Muskoka. I had a strong platform to drastically reduce the cost, role and power of District government, which was, and still is, way out of control. We had done the polls. We knew I had a good chance of winning and my platform fit nicely with the Ford agenda. But it was not to be. The baby went out with the bathwater.
Subsequently, the Ford Government seems to be working hard at pissing off people. Most of us know that the cost of government and therefore the services it offers has to be reduced. But the knee-jerk manner in which they have gone about it, has not worked. There has been little consultation, serious angst about important services being eliminated, such as financial help for autistic children, and little evidence that the real waste in government is being rooted out and done away with.
A few days ago, the Toronto Star ran an editorial, the headline of which read, “Ford must rebuild trust”. The last thing the Star really wants is to see Doug Ford succeed, so of course they don’t mean it. But I do. There is still time for Doug Ford to stop acting like a kid in a candy store with his newfound power. He needs people around him who understand how government really works and not people who see their role as rewarding their friends and attempting to destroy their enemies.
Doug Ford has a mandate to reduce the cost of government and to get the Provincial debt under control. He still has time to do that, but he desperately needs a transparent plan that the people who voted for him, and agreed with his priorities, can support. To me, instead of ad hoc cuts here and there, with little cohesion and even less explanation, he needs to take another route.
The Government needs to require every single Ministry to find a percentage, say from five to 10 per cent, of waste and unnecessary programs, Tribunals and commissions and so on that no longer have any real purpose. Some of the bureaucrats, who never want to give up anything, will inevitably come back with cuts to essential services to embarrass the Government. But Ford must push back and dig deeper than that. Anyone who has worked in government, including myself, knows there is waste, duplication, programs that no longer serve the public interest and sometimes an unwillingness to find better and more cost-efficient ways to do things differently. If Premier Ford is really serious about reducing the cost of Government, and I have to believe he is, he needs to find those things and get rid of them. He has people in his Cabinet who know how to help him to do just that.
Ford also needs to be bold, especially when it comes to our unmanageable debt. No one likes taxes and increasing them is clearly a political risk. But our Provincial debt will not go away without extraordinary measures and it must be dealt with. Perhaps a special, time-limited tax is in order with proceeds to be directed solely to debt reduction and nothing else. Legislation forbidding deficits except under extraordinary circumstances would also be helpful.
So, the question remains, is it too late for Doug Ford? I would like to see him succeed because many of the things he stands for are things I believe to be important. Can he do it? Only time will tell.
And time is quickly running out.
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Paul Whillans says
While I don’t agree with your basic premises about spending cuts (Moody’s has said specifically that Ontario doesn’t have a spending problem it has a revenue problem), it is interesting to note that the Ontario provincial government had a world respected programme evaluation culture until it was killed by Mike Harris ( as he didn’t trust the civil service). Now government has no ability to ensure that they are getting value for their dollar.
We could debate forever policy initiatives. But I think everyone would agree that government should be getting their money’s worth.
It took decades of Conservative governments to build that culture of good money management and it was destroyed by an impulsive act by a Conservative “politician”. I don’t know how you rebuild that without a lot of time and money. But ultimately it has to be done
Murray Christenson says
I’m in agreement with your comments Hugh, I too supported Christine Elliott…she would’ve made a terrific premier. However, Doug’s doing what he was elected to do and that is to try and fix the mess the Liberals left us. His methods have been less than effective shall we say, unfortunately, and my fear that this would happen with him is why I supported Ms Elliott. Let’s hope he gets his stuff together soon.
Rob Millman says
The most comforting thing is that Ford apparently reads your column: Yesterday, he reversed his edict on autism; moving from a per-capita stipend to a more sensible needs-based payout. Even I (who has never voted PC at any level) could have held my nose and voted for Ms. Elliott. But when Ford, animated from misappropriating his brother’s estate in his favour, miraculously won the nomination; I voted NDP. And Mr. Ford (using similar scare tactics to which you allude in your column) won the election too.
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As Dubya must be thrilled to no longer be the most inept President in US history, Mr. Harris must be similarly doing cartwheels. Merely listing the Premier’s mistakes and reversals doesn’t serve to indicate the extent of his poor governance. And no, I don’t think that he can possibly reinvent himself in time for the next election.
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The only item, however infinitesimal, which he got right to date was his budget increase of 1% for healthcare and education; while slashing and burning everything else. If he were, indeed, to follow your 5- to 10% dictum, I suggest that not only these 2 sacred cows be sacrosanct, but also the Ministry of the Environment. In fact, the latter should be significantly increased to replace his previous cuts. Even though the feds picked up the bill for his cancelled 50 M tree-planting program, a show of good faith would be to reinstate the provincial program as well. Carbon sink, anyone? He could get more money than he needs by cancelling the appeal to the Supremes regarding the national carbon tax. After all, Saskatchewan already lost an identical appeal. And if it’s not too late, he could refrain from destroying the 10-year agreement that Ontario has with The Beer Store.
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Furthermore, he demoted Caroline Mulroney and fired his best friend (and closest advisor) for nepotism.
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P.S. – Although I was looking forward to voting for you as District Chair, I don’t appreciate you referring to Patrick Brown, an honourable man, as “bathwater”.
Robert Attfield says
I agree that the Wynne government compounded the Provincial debt to an unsustainable level.
However, to blame the Liberals solely for the financial “mess” is not fair. Previous Governments, including Conservative regimes, have contributed very significantly to the current debt.
Jim Logagianes says
Seriously people, is it Doug Ford’s fault that our Province is in such a sad state of disarray? Yes he has made mistakes but he is doing something that is unique to politics, he is listening to the people. Is that wrong to? Condemning someone who has an insurmountable task ahead of them is childish at best. He inherited a bloody mess, what did you expect, a miracle? At least he is not flying around the country apologizing for everyone’s actions but his own.
Ross Maund says
Well presented commentary Hugh, I agree with your sentiments. From the time that Dalton McGuinty was elected Premier through to the time that Kathleen Wynne left politics the cost of senior bureaucracy doubled within the provincial government. I too supported Christine Elliott and think that she would have come to the Premiership with important legislative & policy experience. But having said this, what many people don’t get (and perhaps most journalists) is that continuing to spend beyond the capacity of the province is a formula that seriously disadvantages future generations. It is not so much whether this is a revenue or cost issue – there is a natural balance between recognising government revenues and then establishing cost priorities that align with those things that are of highest importance to the people of Ontario. Premier Ford has the disadvantage of noisy self-interested advocacy groups who prefer the provincial government continue to recklessly fund everything with no financial accountability.
From a practical standpoint, each of us generally make personal financial decisions based on priorities and if we don’t run into significant financial challenges. Governments can not say yes to everything. I have no doubt that every politician would love to be able to do this – how easy that would be!
Maybe people could take a breath and understand that Premier Ford has spent his first year running the second largest government in Canada on a learning track. Most recently he seems to be getting the hang of it and in fairness year two will likely be increasing informed and aligned to a more traditional decision making approach. All the sniping is not productive – if you have some great ideas share them with your MPP and participate in solution making.
Hugh, as for your near run in district leadership – I hope the time will come when this happens. The district is inappropriately and totally out of control and must be reined in. Hopefully the province will specifically dictate a limited role for them and the district’s expansionary strategy will quickly end.
Jim Boyes says
Good thoughts Hugh.
Ford seems a buffoon and this is unwelcome following the Wynne debacle.
We needed a Captain. Why is it that the Conservatives seem always to pick the wrong leader?
Perhaps with divine intervention Ford will level out and fly straight.
We can only hope and pray.
Good work Hugh.