Doug Ford, Ontario’s Albatross
As David Polansky comments in The Hub, Doug Ford is the real-life version of Mayor Quimby in The Simpsons. Like Quimby, Ford maintains a folksy, populist style and is subject to controversies involving political patronage. He has done nothing to combat pro-Palestinian and Hamas riots, reminiscent of Quimby’s “Oh, dear God. Can’t this town go one day without a riot?” Ford’s construction and civic management record is abysmal. He dismisses his critics as radical yahoos. “What was striking about this outburst was not just a conservative leader rejecting a moderate conservative platform, but the expression of pique at seeing people actually take a political position at all.”
Meanwhile, the hapless premier is “bafflingly silent on critical issues like crime, safety, record youth unemployment, and out of control immigration in his province.” Its housing starts are the worst in the country. Ontario, Canada’s supposed “growth engine,” now has the economic productivity of lowly Mississippi, which will soon dip to Lower Slobbovia levels. Ford is just an endlessly doltish, lumbering surrender-monkey who has tanked Ontario’s economy. The backdrop to his entire tenure is that Ontario is on track to accumulate a debt of half a trillion dollars by 2027. “With twice the debt of California, Ontario is now the world’s most indebted sub-sovereign borrower,” wrote the Financial Post in 2015. Ten Trudeau/Carney years later, the crisis is far worse. It may well be terminal.https://pjmedia.com/david-solway-2/2-25/10/24/doug-ford-ontarios-albatros-n4945235
