An Empty Barrel

Back in  February, Doug Ford told a a private gathering that he was going to open up the Greenbelt -- which surrounds Toronto -- to housing development. Fortunately, what he said was caught on tape. And it created a firestorm. Edward Keenan writes:

It was a pledge he made privately in February, captured on video and released on Monday. When it first emerged, Ford defended the comments, and his position was initially defended by Progressive Conservative supporters under the impression it must be a carefully considered policy position. By the end of the day, he was pledging unequivocally to be the Greenbelt’s biggest defender. “The people have spoken, we won’t touch the Greenbelt. Very simple. That’s it, the people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them, they don’t want me to touch the Greenbelt. We won’t touch the Greenbelt. Simple as that,” he said.

Keenan has Ford's number:

Doug Ford says things. A lot of things. Often unexpected things.

He says them confidently, and forcefully. He conveys certainty.

This doesn’t mean he has given much, or any, prior thought to these things he says. It doesn’t mean he even knows whether those things he says are true or not. It doesn’t mean the things he says will help him. It doesn’t mean the things he says today will be the same as the things he says tomorrow.

And that's just the point. Ford is one of those empty barrels that makes a lot of noise. And he's been making a lot of noise for a long time:

Many people looking back on the Ford years at city hall will remember a couple of years of drug scandal. But those of us who were paying close attention before that will remember that Rob Ford’s mayoralty had entirely derailed well before any hint of drug abuse was reported. Much of how he’d lost control of the city council and its agenda involved his big brother Doug saying things. Opening his mouth and confidently firing a missile into the hull of Rob’s ship.

The Ferris Wheel on the Port Lands is an obvious example. About six months into Rob’s administration, in a series of media interviews, Doug Ford surprised everyone by unveiling a wild-eyed proposal to scrap decades of development planning for Toronto’s derelict port area and replace it with a developer-led malls-and-attractions scheme. Doug Ford’s salesmanship of the hastily concocted proposal was so successful that it was abandoned entirely by both Ford brothers within weeks, and in the process it managed to mobilize a massive movement against Ford and turn some previous council allies against him.

The libraries episode may be even more on point. The city was, at mayor Ford’s urging (and under the banner of “finding efficiencies”), going over a department-by-department cost-cutting audit. This was contentious enough, sparking widespread defences of things like snowplowing and fluoridating water that were suddenly up for discussion.

What wasn’t really up for serious discussion, at that point, was the library system, among the most-used and most beloved city services. The possibility of cutting its budget and closing branches was mentioned in a report alongside other unlikely possibilities like selling the zoo and Exhibition Place. But it wasn’t something the mayor was proposing.

Enter Doug Ford’s mouth: he started saying that there were more libraries in his ward than Tim Horton’s franchises (that this wasn’t true is likely beside the point) and that he’d close a bunch of libraries in “a heartbeat.” Most of us remember what happened after that. An insult contest with Margaret Atwood. All-night meetings featuring long lines of people begging that no libraries be shut and most other services spared. A city council rebellion after that during which many of Ford’s proposed budget cuts were scrapped and he started routinely losing major votes. There’s a straight line from there to city council overruling the Ford transit plan.

If Ford becomes premier of Ontario, you can expect more of the same.

Image: The Toronto Star