, 03.30.2020 04:49 PM

Doug Ford. Wow.

See that guy?

That’s Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario.

Dental Brands, a company in Markham, texted him to say they were donating 90,000 masks to hospitals in Ontario. Ford drove to their warehouse and loaded the masks onto his truck. Didn’t tell his staff.

Got the masks. People noticed.

38 Comments

  1. Gord says:

    The HOAG Factor in a picture.
    That’s what’s going to get the Ontario PCs re-elected.
    (That and the fact that the NDP can’t win and the Grits picked the worst possible leadership option.)

  2. Fred Pertanson says:

    Awesome. He is really stepping up.

    The press tried to trap him today, by asking about the upcoming carbon tax increase. He took the high ground, just said how Team Canada was working with Team Ontario, etc. and all the cooperation he sees with the feds.

    Showing more leadership than JT, as is Legault.

    Cheers, and stay safe.

    • Fred Pertanson says:

      P.S. Nothing on CBC about this. They also don’t seem to carry Doug’s regular pressers. Thank goodness that CTV does.

  3. lungta says:

    this qualifies him to drive a truck
    still a horrible premier tho

  4. Fred from BC says:

    That’s class.

  5. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Like Ford or dislike him, the guy is a man of the people.

  6. Good to see a politician that isn’t hiding out in the bunker.

    • I guess politicians shouldn’t be seen following the urgent medical advice everyone else is supposed to be following.

      • Pedant says:

        You mean like Harper followed the advice of his security staff during the Ottawa shooting and was pilloried for it, including by the state-funded media?

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          Pedant,

          I supported the closet approach but that should have been a last-resort. Better to ring the PM with a phalanx of security and immediately get him, or her, the hell out of there.

          It was horrible optics — falsely suggesting that Harper was some kind of a coward for agreeing to closet himself — and cheap politics coming from those who ridiculed him.

  7. Peter says:

    Nobody thought Churchill’s speeches, defiance and tireless energy would defeat the Germans in battle and nobody thinks actions like this will halt the virus. But Churchill went down in history as a leader who rallied the British to collective resistance against what were seen as impossible odds and to endure much hardship and trauma doing so. If you think something of that spirit is or will be necessary here, you can only be impressed, inspired and grateful by this sort of thing.

    To its credit, even the Star is lauding him. Churchill, of course, had the benefit of a heavily censored press. We can only hope outfits like the CBC will ask themselves hard questions about their selective reporting and formulaic criticisms and their effect on public morale. Ditto for our bien pensants musing about “sufficiency of data” from their armchairs in a situation that calls for lightening-quick decisions and quick actions from huge bureaucratic institutions. Mistakes have been made and more undoubtedly will be made, but we don’t have the luxury of treating this like an extended undergraduate seminar or of second-guessing those in charge at every turn. Ford and Legault are pure gold and JT is doing just fine. Down south, media outfits like CNN, MSNBC and WAPO will continue to slam Trump ten times before breakfast, but their current musings about denying coverage to his briefings come close to crossing the line to outright obstruction.

  8. Steve Teller says:

    How will all the public servants be able to continue vilifying him, when he pulls this sort of thing? Now what will they have to talk about during the quarantine? Sheesh, he just doesn’t think before he acts, does he?

  9. Gyor says:

    He is good at populist messaging, but that only goes so far when when he has no idea how to govern properly.

    • Douglas W says:

      Gyor, as a pro-Liberal, do you care to comment about the McGuinty/Wynne legacy:
      . Mismanagement of the treasury: Ontarians pay $1.3-billion/month to service the interest on its debt.
      . Unnecessary sell off of Hydro to private sector.
      . Green Energy Act (cost Ontario $20-billion) 
      . E-health Scandal (cost Ontario almost $2-billion) 
      . Gas plant scandal ($1.1-billion theft and cover-up of tax dollars) 
      . ORNGE scandal ($700-million) 
      . Ontario Northland Railway scandal ($820-million) 

      Gyor, please explain why returning power to the Liberals is a good thing.

  10. joe long says:

    It will be interesting to see how team Trudeau handles this. Justin can’t really do a photo op with people it for what, another 10 days (I’ve lost count).

    So perhaps lots of selfies of Justin talking to world leaders?

    Or just friendly Telford style op-eds from friends in the media.

  11. Peter says:

    Get real, Joe. Even without selfies, he shepherded an 82 billion relief package unanimously through Parliament, negotiated cooperative measures with a flinty and off-balance U.S. government, put his emergency health people front and center and did a lot of other stuff, all the while worrying about his spouse and family. Not a bad month’s work, I’d say. It may or may not be enough, but it will give comfort to perhaps millions of Canadians. I don’t know about you, Joe, but it’s a lot more than I’ve done.

    Cuomo is really impressing with his non-partisan approach and refusal to get sucked into partisan politics. I think Trump may think he’s trying to do that, but he can’t help himself. Most of the media, by and large, is disgusting.

    • joe long says:

      Peter

      As part of the $82 billion package Trudeau attempted to sneak in a power grab, with no advance warning. Even Liberal friendly media denounced this.

      Then the Liberals tried to pass it off as over reaching officials. Now there are media reports that this power grab came/originated from one or more cabinet ministers. To say that Trudeau did not know about the unlimited spending and taxing provisions in the proposed bill, stretches credulity.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “he shepherded an 82 billion relief package unanimously through Parliament, ”

      He also tried (and failed) to include measures to give himself almost unlimited power for the next two years, remember? Only the threat of leaking the draft bill to the news media stopped him…so on, I can’t give him much credit there, sorry.

      “negotiated cooperative measures with a flinty and off-balance U.S. government”

      Perhaps…but the US had cut off all flights from China (and later, from other countries) *weeks* before Justin Trudeau saw the wisdom of doing so.

      “put his emergency health people front and center ”

      THAT he got right, for sure (if only Donald Trump could do the same). I’ll give him that one.

      That link I posted from an Edmonton newspaper in another thread here contains a timeline of Trudeau vs Covid-19 that is quite an eye-opener.

      “Cuomo is really impressing with his non-partisan approach and refusal to get sucked into partisan politics.”

      Funny thing…I sometimes flip to CNN for a minute or two (or as long as I can stand it) while channel-surfing. The other day, Andrew Cuomo was on with Chris Cuomo – and I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t make the obvious connection until later that night, at which time I looked it up and found out that yes, they are indeed brothers – and Chris was trying to get Andrew to place some blame for the current crisis on Donald Trump. which Andrew *would not do*.
      ??
      Now I realize that Andrew Cuomo’s handling of this crisis has been abysmal by all accounts (some say even worse that Trump’s), but I’m also reading a lot of conjecture about him possibly being the Democratic candidate to face Trump later this year; traditionally, the party would simply promote their vice-presidential candidate to the top spot and nominate a new
      person to run for vice-president, but Joe Biden had already promised a woman in that role (possibly Amy Klobuchar…could that have been her price for her dropping out and pledging to support Biden?) so many people might be disappointed if the Democrats bypassed her and nominated Cuomo instead.

      I don’t know anything about him except that he’s a Democrat and firmly on the left, but still…he didn’t take his brother’s bait when he was given the opportunity, so maybe it’s true: maybe he IS the new front-runner to replace Joe, and he’s practicing being ‘presidential’. We’ll see…

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Fred,

        Biden was nuclear categorical about his VEEP candidate being a woman. There’s no way he can back-track on that, and he evidently absolutely has no desire to do so. Meanwhile, Cuomo is a tad too busy to be even remotely entertaining potential political moves.

  12. Jeff says:

    Gyor exactly how do you govern properly?

    By just throwing $ at things like the libs do?

    Could you imagine Trudeau or Wynne doing this?

    Trudeau would do it only as a photo op!

    • Fred from BC says:

      “Trudeau would do it only as a photo op!”

      Yeah, he probably would have had a full news crew there and done an interview as well.

    • Jeff says:

      He didn’t tell anyone in his office where he was going! It isn’t partisan if its the truth! DUMB DUMB would have had all the media there!

  13. Terence says:

    So who’s running the government while the Premier is working part-time as a courier driver? This is terrible management and displays insecurity. He’s out there running errands because he doesn’t know what else he’s supposed to be doing. I’ve seen many junior managers pull stunts like this. All it means is that other more complicated stuff that it is his job as Premier to be doing is not getting done and it will come back to bite him in the ass.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Terence,

      To me, he seems to be enough in command at his pressers. Better than I expected, frankly.

    • Rick says:

      Terence…. It was a Sunday morning and he acted immediately. That certainly does not stop him from doing his job. Contrary to a certain PM who is still in hiding and comes out late once a day to deliver drivel, while his team is trying to sidestep the democratic process while promising money that the average Joe will never see.

  14. Chris Scott says:

    I’m no Ford Nation fan but Even I have to admit that he’s done an excellent job in handling this crisis. He clearly is listening to the experts, he admits what he knows and doesn’t know (something most political leaders don’t have the courage to do) and his concern for the “people” comes across as sincere and authentic. He has moved several notches up the scale on my evaluation as a leader.
    I also think JT and mayor Tory have done reasonably good jobs but I expected them too.
    And come on….this is no time for partisan hacks. If you hate the other guy so much you can’t mobilize around their effort in this cause then there is no hope for you. Ever.

    • Fred from BC says:

      ” He clearly is listening to the experts, he admits what he knows and doesn’t know ”

      See, now that’s half the battle when it comes to ‘leadership’, isn’t it? Realizing that you will never have all the answers, and that the people really don’t expect you to.

  15. dave says:

    Lead by example. If you are seen bearing a burden no matter how big or small when you are not required to makes a difference to those you lead. Those that laugh at what he did would not like him no matter what his contribution but they are not the majority. The majority look to those that what Mr Rogers referred to are the helpers. The people that do what is required with no expectation of thanks. Is he a good Premier? history will be his true judge, but at a moment of crisis he has stepped forward to do what he can for those around him.

    • TRex says:

      yes this is an example of him stepping up to the plate. Politics are not important in a crisis. The character of a man is. However the fact of the matter is the health care system has been in a mess for years and they are doing a fantastic job under the circumstances but lack of an abundant supply of PPE in healthcare when a virus was on its way to Canada was sheer ignorance. This can take a low risk virus and make it higher. We better hope all the promised health care equipment arrives ASAP. That will make the difference to flattening the curve or becoming like Italy. Hopefully in the future more products will be made in Canada that are important to our health.

      • dave says:

        I was donating blood when I read your rely so I am officially a pint low. Valid points. I would like to see each province stockpile essentials for there own futur use. Basics that would be required for what will probably be re-occurring large health issues. Hopefully but doubtfully this crisis will spur on a greater respect for the health system and workers without the standard political name calling it turns into on both sides.

  16. David Austin says:

    Canadian officials seem hesitant to give any numbers pertaining to Canadian casualties, while south of the border they bring out display boards in an effort to shock Americans into staying at home. We, however, can look at the U.S figures and do our own math. Canada has one tenth the population. The best scenario they say for south of us will bring about 100,000 to 200,000 American deaths. So can we assume that if we all practise physical isolation for the next six months that 10,000 to 20,000 of us will not survive?

  17. Robert White says:

    Wow…the autism Grinch grew a heart ten times the size of heartlessness.

    What does the premier’s net in income from this gig amount to?

    P.S. I’m driving a 1996, your worship. haven’t worked in years either.

    RW

  18. dave says:

    their not there.

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