When Doug Ford’s government announced that sex education in schools was going back to an era before current students were even born there was plenty of shock and outrage.
That was overtaken, for a time, by the shock and outrage of the business community over the premier’s decision to rip up hundreds of green energy contracts, even going so far as to pass legislation to kill a specific wind project $100 million and 10 years into development.
Then, over the last week, the pace of change went into high gear: Ford’s government slashed Toronto city council in half, two months into the municipal election; started setting the table for private cannabis sales; chopped much needed welfare increases for Ontario’s poorest citizens; and launched a constitutional challenge over Ottawa’s carbon-pricing plan.
And that was just the big stuff.
It’s a rapid-fire approach to governing that keeps people off balance, largely uninformed and unable to participate in what little public discourse there is.
If you explode six political files in rapid succession people are so shell-shocked they can barely remember the first three, let alone what they might have thought about them.
And with so much back-to-back turmoil the standard for what constitutes reasonable government behaviour starts to change. One only needs to look at the United States under President Donald Trump to know that. Things that once would have been completely unthinkable for an American president to say and do are now merely unfortunate.
Ford was sworn in as Ontario’s premier just over a month ago, and he’s moved astonishingly fast on files right across the spectrum of provincial responsibilities. And much of it was never raised during the election campaign.
Even for those who support these moves, there has been no time or space made to have real debate on the details — and the devil, as ever, is there.
The pace of change this past week left even seasoned political observers exhausted. So much so, that it’s almost hard to recall what came before this round. There was a lot, and much of it was deeply troubling.
A recap for the overwhelmed:
Ford’s government ended Ontario’s cap-and-trade system and the green energy programs that were providing upgrades to schools, social housing and businesses. It announced $335 million less for mental health this year than the Liberals budgeted for, and reduced the OHIP+ program providing free prescriptions to some young people.
Ford fired Ontario’s chief investment officer and chief scientist, while appointing his own insider to review the health care file. He launched two unnecessary and politically driven reviews of the province’s finances.
The government weakened police oversight by halting a law the day before it was to take effect, and abandoned all responsibility to help house and settle refugees coming across the U.S. border. Ford also legislated an end to the strike at York University, a government action this page supported.
And the premier started using taxpayer dollars to produce “news” more to his liking.
Amid all that, there have been so many flip-flops on what’s in and what’s out of sex education that no one knows what teachers will do in September. But even Ford must be coming around to the realization that telling teachers to have private chats with students about the things the government won’t let them talk about in class is a non-starter.
Since no substantial platform for governing was produced during the election, it’s hard to keep track of the overall theme as Ford races from one policy file to the next. But there is one.
He’s taking a hammer to every policy and program with a Liberal stamp on it without putting anything back together. More of that is still to come.
The provincial Liberal climate change program, according to Ford, was a government cash grab, didn’t help the environment and hit people in their wallets. So, it had to go. The Liberal plan in Ottawa is also no good, hence the impending legal battle. And the PC’s plan? They’ll have one, later.
Ontario’s social assistance programs last overseen by the Liberals are broken, and so Ford’s government simply had to step in. Their immediate fix is to make life worse for the poorest among us. And after that? They’ll tell us, in November.
On and on it goes. Vastly different files but the result is eerily similar.
And to all questions and criticisms Ford’s response is some variation of “I talked to tens of thousands of people” during the election.
Yes, Ontarians gave Ford’s Progressive Conservatives a majority government, but that’s not a one-and-done sort of thing. Our culture of democracy dictates that leadership is maintained through an ongoing conversation and compromise with the electorate, who don’t always agree with their neighbours — let alone the government.
Ford started out by saying he was returning government to the people. But now, it seems that the people’s wishes and Doug Ford’s wishes are completely interchangeable on every single issue that draws his attention.
Before long, even Ford Nation stalwarts may have something to say about that.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2018/08/03/doug-fords-brutal-rapid-fire-approach-to-governing.html
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