# Has Doug Ford Had It?



## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Due to his anti-vaccine passport stance, will anyone want to vote for him next time?


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

Dilbert said:


> Due to his anti-vaccine passport stance, will anyone want to vote for him next time?


Of course. He's the best premiere we've had in many decades. Surely you don't want another Liberal Wynne type government.

ltr


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> Due to his anti-vaccine passport stance, will anyone want to vote for him next time?


I don’t want to vote for him because of his draconian lockdowns! And I support vaccine passport.
Most likely we are going to boycott next provincia elections


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

like_to_retire said:


> Of course. He's the best premiere we've had in many decades. Surely you don't want another Liberal Wynne type government.
> 
> ltr


You have a point! I don’t want neighter Liberal Wynne type, nor NDP type Singh government


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

I think Doug Ford did a much better job than expected, and he's handled COVID19 very well.

However there are a lot who don't like how he handled COVID and will blame him for everything.

Honestly I think that he might be done, but I'm glad we had him during this crisis.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Dunno, I think Ford blundered through COVID. At least he didn't crumble like some US state governors. He squandered all his goodwill by waffling then disappearing during the worst of the third wave after trying to impose martial law. Thankfully the grown ups that run our police forces firmly but politely refused to use the new powers.


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## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

andrewf said:


> Dunno, I think Ford blundered through COVID. At least he didn't crumble like some US state governors. He squandered all his goodwill by waffling then disappearing during the worst of the third wave after trying to impose martial law. Thankfully the grown ups that run our police forces firmly but politely refused to use the new powers.


Ford did well in covid. He had to deal w outbreaks in Brampton because the fool Trudeau didn't lock down borders or quarantine people properly. People would get back from India and infect their households who would then waltz in and infect their workplaces.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Ford was hot.......then turned cold with his healthcare cuts and was booed everywhere he went. Then he became more popular early in the pandemic with his folksy press conferences. They wore thin after awhile as the virus spread and the LTC homes were a disaster. Ontario opened... closed...opened...closed, and people got fed up with not knowing what to expect.

The schools opening were a disaster and soon closed down individually and then all across the Province.

There are going to be multiple lawsuits about LTC homes that will bare all the facts in the media.

Last I read he was tied with the Liberals and people don't even know who the Liberal leader is. That isn't good news for Conservatives.

Election next year for him, and it could go one way or the other. It all depends on the lawsuits and if Ford Nation come out to vote.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Ford was maybe a bit like Trump: he was overly influenced by whoever he spoke to last. He went ditch to ditch many times on policy. He put in unnecessarily punitive measures on small businesses and ignored large workplace outbreaks, and only belatedly in the third wave gave the local PHUs the power to shut down workplace outbreaks. I know--I was on the receiving end of 3 such closures in Peel alone! The first time it happened was after the peak of the third wave...


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

I can’t help thinking he’s opened the door wide open for an undesirable replacement, come election time.


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## Tostig (Nov 18, 2020)

Is anybody surprised that the same people who say that Trump was a good president, climate change is not real and Covid is a hoax continue to support Ford?


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

Tostig said:


> Is anybody surprised that the same people who say that Trump was a good president, climate change is not real and Covid is a hoax continue to support Ford?


Is anybody surprised that the same people who say that Trump was a bad president, climate change is real, and COVID is real continue to support Ford?

I support Ford more now than I did before the election. 
Sure there is COVID fatigue, but pre-COVID he was doing an amazing job. He launched reviews and improvement plans throughout the government.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

In all fairness, I think ON's Premier Doug Ford has done not bad of a job in handling the pandemic from the outset given its precedence. [Can't say on some of his lackies though.] Now if he can continue doing on what makes sense (from a science and health perspective), he can earn/capture some new votes (possibly major) in the next election. Now if he derails and screw up significantly (eg. re-appointed Rod and his performance with the LTC portfolio) ... that would be a shame.


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

No that he is doing a great job but who out there could be become our next Premier?


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

For those who may think that Ford is not very good.....thank your lucky stars that you do not have Jason Kenney as Premier. Or should I say Potentate.

It would be a treat in either a Federal or a Provincial election to be able to vote for the Party or the candidate that you want rather than always voting for your perception of the lesser of two evils.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

ian said:


> For those who may think that Ford is not very good.....thank your lucky stars that you do not have Jason Kenney as Premier. Or should I say Potentate.
> 
> It would be a treat in either a Federal or a Provincial election to be able to vote for the Party or the candidate that you want rather than always voting for your perception of the lesser of two evils.


You've got to be pretty biased to not think Ford did at least an okay job.

The list of jurisdictions that did as well (or better) is short, and the list of those that did worse is quite large.

Also Ontario v Toronto politics is a tricky beast to manage at the best of times.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm not a fan of Ford, but he did okay with the covid situation. The problem is that he was flip-flopping around a little too much in response to big businesses. 

Part of the problem is that he says the right things, but doesn't do anything about them. For example, LTC file, early on with covid, it was identified as a problem, but even now, over a year later, there's no progress on it. Basically, we're counting on the vaccine to minimize covid deaths, but not addressing the long-standing issues like hygiene, and staffing. 

Outside of the covid file, have there been any good/bad lasting things that he has implemented/accomplished? Serious question.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

bgc_fan said:


> I'm not a fan of Ford, but he did okay with the covid situation. The problem is that he was flip-flopping around a little too much in response to big businesses.
> 
> Part of the problem is that he says the right things, but doesn't do anything about them. For example, LTC file, early on with covid, it was identified as a problem, but even now, over a year later, there's no progress on it. Basically, we're counting on the vaccine to minimize covid deaths, but not addressing the long-standing issues like hygiene, and staffing.
> 
> Outside of the covid file, have there been any good/bad lasting things that he has implemented/accomplished? Serious question.


The flip flopping was a bit annoying, but he was trying to be "more responsive".

Actually the review of LTC as part of a major revamp was initiated very shortly after he took office.. but COVID got in the way. I watch politics, but I wasn't aware of what was going on there until later from other people.

LTC is actually a huge problem, and any changes are going to have a lot of effects and ripples.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

i just think he blew a big opportunity to drive vaccinations into folks who are sitting on the fence. I don’t necessarily think that most politicians handled Covid badly, there isn’t exactly a playbook for that sort of thing.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> i just think he blew a big opportunity to drive vaccinations into folks who are sitting on the fence. I don’t necessarily think that most politicians handled Covid badly, there isn’t exactly a playbook for that sort of thing.


Have you looked at the disaster across the US?


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

newfoundlander61 said:


> No that he is doing a great job but who out there could be become our next Premier?


 ... true too.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The US is a total clown show.

Some of those states only have 30% vaccination rates.

There is reported to be a brisk sale of fake vaccination records online. I hope un-vaccinated Americans aren't planning on using them to come to Canada.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

^ You can bet our border will be working like a gigantic sieve with the same Canadian clown officials managing "border security". 

Mendicino-Mayorkas meeting readout makes no mention of Canada-U.S. travel imbalance



> _WASHINGTON - Canada's immigration minister talked Canada-U.S. border issues Monday with the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
> 
> *But the federal government's official account of the meeting between Marco Mendicino and Alejandro Mayorkas, released late Tuesday, makes no mention of the current imbalance in travel between the two countries.*
> ...
> ...


 ... so what is happening "currently" in this country? The pandemic doesn't exist?


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

@MrMatt, I was thinking narrowly about Canada!


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> @MrMatt, I was thinking narrowly about Canada!


Well I think Canada, in general has been fortunate to have generally ok leaders and a pretty competent bureaucracy.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

sags said:


> Ford was hot.......then turned cold with his healthcare cuts and was booed everywhere he went. Then he became more popular early in the pandemic with his folksy press conferences. They wore thin after awhile as the virus spread and the LTC homes were a disaster. Ontario opened... closed...opened...closed, and people got fed up with not knowing what to expect.
> 
> The schools opening were a disaster and soon closed down individually and then all across the Province.
> 
> ...


The issue with LTC homes in Ontario did not start the day that Wynne was defeated. It was business as usual. It was just as bad on the Ontario Liberals watch….as it was with the Conservatives before Wynne.

Whether you support Ford or not you cannot lay every issue at his feet including world hunger or a cure for cancer.


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## Tostig (Nov 18, 2020)

For those who are opposed to the carbon tax, Ontario wasn't going to get it until Ford withdrew Ontario from the Cap and Trade arrangement with Quebec and California.

Ontario was going to have its own affordable daycare plan until Doug Ford cancelled it. Now Ontario is the only province that hasn't signed with the the Federal Daycare plan all because Ford is holding it up.

And we used to have an anti-scalping legislation but guess-who cancelled that too.

Meanwhile, pre-Covid, Ford's priority was a-buck-a-beer AND he couldn't manage to achieve that either.

So naturally, during the pandemic, the only logical thing to do was for Ford to follow Trudeau's instructions or end up looking like Kenney and O'Toole.

The best premier? Only if there are no expectations or standards.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Ford didn't do much well before covid and was very unpopular. He ran on an election platform of no job or service cuts.........and then started cutting.

His cuts to some social services and eliminating audits of LTC homes had a negative impact on the pandemic response and were very unpopular with voters.

However, he did reverse some early policies and worked well with the Federal government so he did negate some of his previous damage.

His poll numbers rose considerbly as a result.

He is facing an election next year, and his poll numbers put him a couple points ahead of the "no name" Liberals, who are gaining support from NDP voters.

The data from the last Ontario election shows that the combined vote of the Liberals and NDP (progressive voters) would have cost the Conservatives about 36 MPs and they would have lost the election handily if it weren't for the vote split among progressive voters.

Now the big question....will the Liberals and NDP be content to run their own elections and hope Ford doesn't repeat the win with a divided progressive vote, or will they partner for a coalition government before the election ?

Do they want to oust Ford bad enough to not run candidates against each other in specific ridings, so the progressive vote isn't a split vote ?

It will be interesting to see what happens.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Anything can happen in politics. The election is a long way off. Lots of time for any of the parties to screw up.

Just think back to the last two federal elections. The Conservatives, through their abysmal election performance, handed the Liberals victory on a silver platter.

In order to vote out a Government voters need to perceive that there is a viable alternative. Not to mention more than one viable alternatives that effectively splits the vote.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

Tostig said:


> For those who are opposed to the carbon tax, Ontario wasn't going to get it until Ford withdrew Ontario from the Cap and Trade arrangement with Quebec and California.
> 
> Ontario was going to have its own affordable daycare plan until Doug Ford cancelled it. Now Ontario is the only province that hasn't signed with the the Federal Daycare plan all because Ford is holding it up.
> 
> ...


There is no "affordable" daycare program.
The problem is that daycare doesn't make financial sense, it is basically a massive government subsidy program.

That's fine, but the government run daycares are problematic.
1. There aren't enough.
2. They don't run the hours needed to support lower income people. Most run to support mid/upper incomes with stable hours in major centers, ie Toronto head office workers.
3. Don't forget it's another government union. Which leads to extreme costs. The simple reality is they'll blackmail the government for more money, and they'll give it.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

delete


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