Ontario Premier Doug Ford has had himself quite a week. After delivering sharp kicks to bicycle lovers, homeless encampment residents, and the out-of-control Toronto District School Board, Ford topped it all off by promising an audacious solution to Toronto’s traffic gridlock.
If Ford’s goal was to sharply differentiate himself from his political opponents, then mission accomplished. The way he did it helps explain why his party is in power and the other two are not. It comes down to talking about things that matter to people in ways they can understand.
Let’s start with cars. Ford’s a fan of them. So are Ontarians. There are more than nine million vehicles registered in the province. And yet, the NDP, Liberal and Green parties don’t care for cars unless they are electric. Even then, they’d rather see people get around by transit or bicycle.
Unfortunately for those parties, transit and bicycles are unlikely to solve the gridlock problem in Toronto. It’s not just a Toronto issue, either: anyone trying to drive across the province has to contend with the city’s traffic issues.
Ford is clearly going to make gridlock an election issue. He got started on Monday with a plan to limit bicycle lanes on major roads, giving cars and trucks priority. Ford suggested, quite sensibly, that bicycle lanes would be better placed on secondary roads.
Changing the rules for bike lanes is unlikely to move the needle on gridlock, but it was enough to draw the predictable reaction that Ford no doubt wanted. The Toronto Star editorial board condemned the plan as “ill-judged and offensive.” New Democrat MPP Joel Harden said, “This is putting wedge politics over real solutions.”
The fuming hadn’t even stopped before Ford offered a real solution to gridlock. Wednesday he proposed a vehicle and transit tunnel under the 401 as a way to alleviate the stalled traffic on the surface. The transportation ministry will study the no-doubt stunning cost of running a tunnel from Brampton or Mississauga to Scarborough or Markham.
Although this is a feasibility study, Ford has already made up his mind that the plan will go ahead. “We’re going to get the job done, mark my words,” he said at the announcement.
As an election promise, the anti-gridlock tunnel is perfect. It seems to address gridlock in a substantial way, but it could be years before the price tag and feasibility are established. It’s one of those promises that costs almost nothing now, but could reap immediate political dividends.
Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie was quick to question the tunnel, falling back on her favourite criticism of Ford. To Crombie, the real goal is to benefit “Doug’s rich buddies.” As a line of attack, it’s a reach. Did developers buy the land under the highway?
One of Ford’s strengths, evident this week, is his blunt way of speaking. In an era of vanilla politicians afraid to utter an intelligible sentence for fear of offending someone, Ford’s style is refreshing, even if one doesn’t agree with his point.
Speaking Monday about people who live in the province’s burgeoning homeless encampments, Ford suggested they “get off your a-s-s and start working like everyone else.” It wasn’t entirely clear why he felt it necessary to spell out the word ass, but it’s a sentiment that will play well with his supporters and anyone who thinks personal responsibility is part of the solution to this problem. The premier went to some lengths to say that he was only talking about healthy people capable of work, but “experts” were appalled all the same.
Ford was also quick to order an investigation into the latest disturbing situation at the Toronto District School Board. Children, some in elementary school, went on a field trip to observe a rally that was supposed to be about mercury poisoning affecting Aboriginal people but devolved into an anti-Israel, anti-Canada demonstration.
Ford didn’t miss an opportunity question the social justice activism embraced by some teaching unions, unions which the provincial Liberals had just spent the previous weekend cozying up to at the party’s annual meeting.
“I’ve said this is indoctrination for years,” Ford said, pointing to a small minority of “bad actors.” He added, “Number one, you shouldn’t be teaching our kids. But number two, stick with your knitting — stick with teaching the kids the geography, history, math, spelling, that’s what they need.”
Ford was equally clear when he complained about environmental assessments for Highway 413, which will link Highway 401 at Milton to Highway 400 in Vaughan. “Let’s build the damn highway,” he said. “There’s hundreds of thousands of people stuck in our cars backed up from here to Timbuktu, and you’re worried about a grasshopper jumping across the highway.”
The thing with Ford-speak is that it reflects what average people think, not what elites tell them to think. That’s politically potent.
National Post
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