Readers of this space know that I have had little good to say about Doug Ford. But Martin Regg Cohn -- who also has seen little to praise in Ford's performance -- writes in today's Toronto Star that Ford is turning out to be the kind of leader Ontario needs at this moment:
He is listening, at last, to expert advice — not going with his gut. Where once Ford mistakenly encouraged people to fly off on March break, he is now a self-disciplined disciplinarian, admonishing people to stay home with displays of tough love.
Even if his briefings do not soar to the rhetorical heights of N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the eye of the COVID-19 storm, they do not stoop to the buffoonery and bellicosity of Donald Trump’s White House monologues. While Ford’s audiences can’t compare to the record numbers of Americans watching their duelling leaders on daytime TV, and don’t match the reach of a self-isolating and importuning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the premier is making his mark.
Ford’s daily performance is so remarkable because it is so unexpected, so unlike the public persona he has cultivated throughout his public life. Gone for now is the hostility and insecurity, the pandering and partisanship, replaced by a steady resolve and resilience in the face of tough questions.
He no longer speaks as the leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives, but of all Ontarians:
The premier is acting and talking, at last, like the premier of all Ontarians. Not a political messiah preaching an imaginary Ford Nation incantation.
“There’s no better army than I have behind me than the 14-1/2 million people of this province that are standing shoulder to shoulder united, working with us,” Ford intoned Monday. “We will conquer this, we will defeat this COVID-19.”
I admit my surprise. However, it reminds me that -- occasionally -- we listen to our better angels. We're going to have to do a lot more of that.
Image: CTV Troronto-CTV News
14 comments:
I don't buy it. This is the same guy who praised Trump on many occasions. Even Trump is back peddling all the time and from where I sit here in rural Illinois waiting for my professor wife to finish her semester at U.of Ill. no amount of praise or crocodile tears will change my mind about any of them. I am concentrating on staying safe and making a run for the border with my wife and two dogs when the time comes.
It's not a good thing to compare Cuomo to anyone else. We watch him every night as the only real sobering leader among them but make no mistake his closet has some skeletons. They are in a complete mess down here and in a complete state of denial regarding their leader. Don't fall for the cheshire grin of Ford. Like Bojo in the UK, conservatism is too far to the right to ever win the the more social of us. Stay safe.
I read the same piece this morning, Owen. Partisanship now seems so parochial. I give credit to Ford for the way he is conducting himself.
I agree, zoombats, that modern conservatism at its core is anti-social. I don't expect Ford to change his core beliefs. But, if he puts them on hold for a while, he'll do all of us a favour.
There is such a thing as the common good, Lorne. For the moment, Ford seems to recognize that fact.
Ford's handlers have done a good job of ensuring that he sticks to the script and doesn't start rambling off on weird tangents like Trump does. Ford is also dealing with a subject where he feels comfortable deferring to experts - unlike education for instance. Finally, the dire situation calls for turning off the firehose of partisan rubbish and working together. This is how government ought to work and kudos to Ford for getting it right.
The big question is whether Ford can sustain this after the crisis is over or whether he becomes Ontario's Rudy Giuliani.
Cap
That's the big question, Cap. We'll have to see if Ford's transformation is long-lasting.
wow
so scared to death
with a willingness to push those 14-1/2 million out in front of you
on your best behavior and looking like a zombie
to appease god from your foxhole
is the new statesman like diplomatic leader?
wow just wow
Moments like this bring out the best -- and the worst -- in us, lungta.
I believe it was Winston Churchill who said "the Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing. But only after all else has failed", and that sentiment certainly applies to Doug Ford. From planned cuts of Local Health Unit funding last year, to recently telling Ontario residents to travel and enjoy their spring break, he has been totally out of touch with reality. It's a pretty low bar when a temporary absence of negative behaviour is considered to be leadership!
.. zoombats has the scent.. I do too.. I just have more experience masking my trail while tracking via the scent of predators and political parasites. Doug leaves sign all over the place, trees knocked down, moss scuffed.. heavy scent due to his laboured breathing. I follow from the downwind side.. never leaving my scent over his, or vice versa or needing to stand beside and study those seismic footprints.. deary me, did a brontosaurus pass by ?
To further cloak my surveillance I wll claim I am finishing my PhD in theology at University of Missouri.. ol Miss, deep in the Show Me state and my real name is Private 1st Class Chelsea Manning.. tuition via the GI Bill.. Meritorious medals of Bone Spur gory .. and Three poodle dogs ! (take that, Zoombats !)
The sign says Doug the Thug discovered 'situational pragmatism'.. shucking his juvenile 'situational unawareness' and winter long underwear. He now stares woodenly into his prompter, zombie like and without reverting to his former bout with contagious 'um' disease.. with various wax museums props positioned behind him.. he majestically intones n drones like a mechanical adult. Jabuz, but can they not let mrs Christine Elliot give her bunions a break ? She looks like rigor mortis set in. Or just wheel her backstage ? Or the props storage room ? She defines 'death warmed over'.. hardly suggesting we will get to the rapture uninfected.. always just yonder of one massive shoulder
He is towing the line manfully.. the whole Tussaud wax emulation Trudeau line.. towed & arrayed in arrowhead flight formation.. Doug is the point of the arrow.. toes on the line, ready to tow.. Jeez but we could use such beef on the hoof as a pulling guard leading Missou's offensive line, towing the entire feeble backfield lineup and marching band too on 'Student Body Right' play after play after play.. As ol Packer Coach Vince Lomardi and Notorious Dame Knute Rockne used to preach, tell em what play you're gonna run.. run it.. if they can't stop it, run it again, then again.. its the ultimate insult.. just add 'this great province' and 'For The People' every other sentence or so.. its kinda heroic eh
.. and lest we forget.. Alberta is onside too.. putting vast amounts of Pension Funds into exceptional investment opportunities such as Keystone Xl and Coastal GasLink pipelines very recently.. since surely they can be easily reversed to flow with medical supplies from Asia, Healthcare.. or Education or just untold wealth for future rainy or catastrophic days.. those recent billions will repay all Canadian taxpayers in spades once built and pay Albertans if any are furloughed.. The Alberta Advantage as their prescient Premier might claim once his War Room is rehired
Point taken, Maximum. But I'll take what Ford is offering -- and hope that there might be a little more to come.
Ford has earned your skepticism, sal. I too am not convinced he's a convert. But, for the time being, I can live with the change.
There is much to be skeptical about, sal -- particularly when it comes to the case of Mr. Kenney.
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