Doug Ford spoke at 10 a.m. Friday after receiving a second majority.
CBC News broadcasts the new conference live above.
Doug Ford’s path to winning the Ontario election and securing a second consecutive majority did begin on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020, the day he declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until now, Ford’s progressive-conservative government had carried the scent of a one-term miracle, steeped in scandals of nepotism and so unpopular that the prime minister was booed at the otherwise joyous victory parade in the Toronto Raptors.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic: 13,000 people died, Ontario closed schools for longer than anywhere else in North America, and Ford’s promised “iron ring” around long-term care homes never materialized.
Still, Ford led his computers in Ontario to a bigger victory than in the last election, with 83 seats, leaving new Democrats and Liberals in its dust and looking for new party leaders.
How did he and his group manage to accomplish this stunning recovery?
A key factor was the image Ford cultivated at more than 200 press conferences in the first year of the pandemic.
Whatever you think of the way he reads from the teleprompter or his “God bless the people of Ontario” in conclusion, Ford is using these appearances to restore his reputation, and as a result, his rating of approval has risen.
Doug Ford, with his wife Carla next to him, was re-elected Prime Minister of Ontario on Thursday. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
There is no doubt that his government’s response to the pandemic was wrong, and this ultimately led to Ford’s approval. There were a lot of voters who wanted Ford to come out.
But there is also no doubt that a significant number of Ontarians are tired of the pandemic and want to move on. Ford’s party is taking advantage of this, and its “Do it” message probably resonates with those who are “done” with COVID-19.
Election of a referendum for Ford
Between these two factors related to COVID, here’s how it turned out: enough of the audience in enough riding gave Ford a passing grade to pave the way for an election victory.
The election was in many ways a referendum on Ford. Studies show that few in Ontario are neutral to him after four years as prime minister and so much time in the spotlight.
The stability of sociological data during the campaign and the result of Thursday’s election suggest that these polarized views on Ford have been confirmed. There seemed to be little opposition party that could say or do anything to persuade people who were already on Ford’s side to turn against him.
Ford answers questions as Health Secretary Christine Elliott and Ontario Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Williams listen to a press conference in the Toronto Legislature in Toronto on March 16, 2020. Ford was widely praised for his daily updates. to residents of the Covid19 pandemic. (Frank Gunn / Canadian Press)
As proof of Ford’s ability to attract non-traditionally conservative voters to the PC, see where his party won seats.
Places that vote reliably liberal at the federal level, such as Mississauga, Vaughan and Scarborough, have been left with personal computers. Apparently, a significant number of voters, who this time cast their ballots for Ford’s party, also voted for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals last September.
Even more remarkable – and something that should worry the NDP and its next leader – was the success of presenting the computer to workers. The party managed to film such rides as Windsor-Tecumseh and Essex in the heart of the automotive sector, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in Steeltown in Ontario and Timmins, a major mining center.
Stephen Del Duca failed to win his seat from Von Woodbridge and his Liberal Party did not regain official party status in Thursday’s election. Del Duca has announced his intention to resign as leader. (Esteban Cuevo / CBC)
The idea that Doug Ford’s Conservatives are on the side of the workers must be one of the most magical pieces of political alchemy ever made in Ontario. It is the same party that, months after the government was formed, repealed a law giving workers the right to two paid sick days, froze the minimum wage and made union membership more difficult.
During their tenure, personal computers realized that treating employees in this way risked revealing the slogan “For the People” that Ford was using for the last time as empty words.
The electoral problem this created for Ford became obvious. Government sources tell me that Labor Minister Monte McNaughton sold the shift cabinet, and party strategists began trying to cultivate workers’ perceptions last fall. As a computer campaign source told me at the time, there are more employees who vote than business owners who vote.
Ford’s promise to build Highway 413 has brought enough construction unions to its side that computers can use this symbolism in additional places. This apparently helped in Brampton, where they took three new seats from the New Democrats.
Voters rejected Horvat, Del Duca as prime minister
When choosing the referendum between Doug Ford and not Doug Ford, voters considered two main alternatives: Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca and NDP leader Andrea Horvath. Significantly more people decided that Ford would be a better prime minister than the two. Their successive resignations underscored the resounding victory of the computer.
Ontario NDP leader and Hamilton Center MP Andrea Horvat wipes away tears as she announces her resignation as party leader in Hamilton, Ont., On Thursday. Horvat contested his fourth election as party leader. (Tara Walton / Canadian Press)
Horvat’s tearful speech on election night was probably the best she delivered in her 13 years as a party leader, speaking from the heart. New Democrats have told me in recent days that Horvat’s time is up and she knows it.
Although Del Duca did not shed a tear in his speech, looking and sounding numb from the grim outcome, he can feel no less pain than Croatia after leading his political team to one of the worst defeats in its history.
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner has acknowledged at the top of the campaign that he will not become prime minister. It was not uncommon for voters to comment during the campaign, and especially after Schreiner’s presentation in the debate, that other parties would have a much better chance of winning if he were their leader.
The result shows that the strategy of the Play and Safe campaign used by Ontario PC Party works. As frustrating as it was for reporters that Ford walked for days without answering questions, it didn’t matter to the more than 1.9 million Ontario people who voted for the PC.
Ford has grown in his ability to deliver messages, mostly by not actually answering questions from reporters. It happened that his fighting instincts made him catch the bait more often, and his communication assistants nervously watched his press conferences, wondering what might come out of his mouth.
WATCH Doug Ford’s victory speech:
Doug Ford’s victory speech
Ontario computer leader Doug Ford spoke to his supporters after winning a decisive second majority.
The big question will be what Ford is doing over the next four years with this even longer term. Will he accept it as a license to return to the elbow style from his first year in power? Or I will listen to Horvat’s message in her speech: “Respecting the voters means listening to everything they tell us.”
It is rare for a prime minister to form a majority in his first election victory and then receive an even larger majority in a second election. Dalton McGwinty’s Liberals didn’t. Mike Harris’ computers didn’t.
In fact, a scan of the records shows only one Ontario prime minister who achieved it in the last century. Leslie Frost’s computers won five more seats in 1955 than in 1951, but even that received an asterisk: the size of the legislature increased by eight seats between elections.
According to historical election trends in this province, computer damage would actually be an anomaly. In the last century, Ontario voters have sent government packages only once after just one term: it was Bob Ray’s 1995 NDP.
It turns out that Doug Ford is not a miracle for one term and is anything but Bob Ray.
Add Comment