Antonia Zerbisias is keeping a list. She's counting the things that Doug Ford is doing to make the lives of "the people" more miserable:
Sometime in January, a list, a very long list, documenting all the attacks by Doug Ford's government on Ontario's social services, safety nets and support systems began to take shape on my Facebook profile page.
I too have been adding to the original list, barely able to keep up with all the announcements, pronouncements and chops to health care, education and even firefighting services wielded by Ford Nation while horse racing gets a $10-million annual boost and the premier's cronies and bagmen get appointed to head Crown corporations.
These rapid-fire assaults on "the people" that Ford purportedly champions are reminiscent of Donald Trump's tactic, inadvertent or deliberate, of spitting out diversionary tweets whenever CNN or MSNBC focus on his sympathy for white nationalism or his wall or on what he calls the "witchhunt."
In Ontario, no sooner do we hear about new slogans and new logos on car license plates than comes news that all gas stations will be hit with fines up to $10,000 for not sticking Conservative Party anti-carbon tax decals to their pumps. Oh, and taxpayers are paying for those stickers, plus a radio ad campaign, plus a follow-up TV buy in Ford's $30-million fight against what he deems to be a recession-causing tax. Go figure.
The evidence keeps piling up. And, as long as "the people" aren't paying attention, Ford can get away with all of this. Perhaps that's why Ford is focusing on alcohol:
As CBC Queens Park reporter Mike Crawley tweeted, "The word 'alcohol' or 'beer' appears 46 times in the Doug Ford government's first budget. The words 'teacher' or 'teachers' appears 25 times. #onpoli"
Also on Twitter, Toronto City Councillor Joe Cressy noted, "Number of times Doug Ford's budget mentioned the words 'alcohol' or 'beer': 46. Number of times 'poverty' was mentioned: 0. Priorities."
There is a method to Doug Ford's madness.
Image: City News Toronto
