Doug Ford, ever the opportunist, has used Trump’s tariff threat to justify an early election. Ford, styling himself as Ontario’s saviour, guarantees that he’s the leader to usher us through Trump’s ever-changing but always dangerous moods and threats. But it has always been clear Ford is not a saviour. He is not an expert. He is not a leader.
Just the other day, Doug Ford was heard saying he supported Trump’s re-election as U.S. President. What they have in common is a deep and abiding commitment to wealthy corporations, to profits, and to pushing the needs of working people and communities to the side.
Anxiety among working people is rising. On top of an affordability crisis, Trump’s constant threats pose concerns about job stability. Our schools are falling apart, our hospitals are beyond capacity, housing is more unaffordable than ever. But instead of governing us through this crisis, Ford has chosen to waste $189 million and likely more taxpayer dollars to give himself four more years at Ontario’s top job.
But then again, Doug Ford is no stranger to wasting taxpayer dollars. In 2024 alone, he:
- Paid a $612 million penalty for ripping up Beer Store contracts early
- Will spend millions ripping out bike lanes
- Committed to spend over half a billion dollars to build a 2,000 car parking lot for a private spa at Ontario Place
- Created the biggest and most expensive Premier’s Office and Cabinet in Ontario history
He’s also no stranger to broken promises. He has:
- Failed to meet his own legislated target for providing hands-on care for long-term care residents
- Failed to create the Attainable Housing Program he promised on the campaign trail in 2018
- Fallen short of his 2018 promise to create 300,000 manufacturing jobs
- Failed to protect the Greenbelt in order to ensure developers earn windfall profits – a scandal which is now being investigated by the RCMP and Ford staffers are being sued for asking for kickbacks
Make no mistake, our hard-won public services have been chronically underfunded through decades of successive Liberal and Conservative governments. But since Ford came in to power he has:
- Underfunded schools by $1,500 per student per year amounting to over $3 billion this year alone.
- Caused the unplanned shutdown of 1 in 5 hospitals with an Emergency Room or Urgent Care
- Caused waitlists for autism services, housing for Ontarians with developmental disabilities, mental health care and more to grow by tens of thousands while underfunding support services
- Ignored states of emergency in First Nations communities across Ontario
- Withheld much needed federal funding, allowed for over 4,500 long-term care residents to die and mandated the longest lockdowns in North America during the pandemic
While he courts some private sector unions, Ford uses legislation to try and crush unionized workers:
- Bill 124 (later shot down by the courts) tried to keep public sector wage increases below the cost of living
- Bill 28 tried to force education workers back to work with an illegally-imposed contract
- Bill 66 ripped up construction union agreements in municipal, school and health sectors
The lists above are a mere fraction of Doug Ford’s work in his seven years as premier. Imagine the damage he’ll cause with four more.
It’s clear he is no friend to the working class. His first moves in office included removing sick days and freezing the minimum wage. He removed mandatory inquests into deaths at construction sites and given billions in WSIB premiums to employers rather than to injured workers. He has shown nothing but contempt to anyone not part of the corporate class. Sometimes he gives back a fraction of what he takes away, like incremental increases to the minimum wage, dangling hope in front of workers so he can try and use them later on.
Ford promises to build. But does he deliver? We need a government that will really build and deliver what people need: transit to address gridlock; backlogged schools repairs; critical health facilities; government-supported housing – not unnecessary highways that rip up the greenbelt and benefit wealthy developers. We need a government that will respect apprenticeship ratios and attract new workers into the trades.
In Doug Ford’s Ontario, support is unobtainable and life is unaffordable. In Doug Ford’s Ontario, backroom deals decide our future and corruption is rampant. Whether it’s the Greenbelt, Ontario Place, the Ontario Science Centre, he has shown he is willing to sell what’s ours to the highest bidder.
On February 27th, let’s tell Doug Ford exactly what we think of him and his corporate buddies – we see through their schemes. $200 bribes will not buy our vote. We’re fighting for a better future, one that they have no part in.
The Labour Council resolves to:
- Encourage members to get out and vote for truly worker-friendly candidates in this election
- Ask members to participate in OFL labour canvasses https://ofl.ca/power-of-many/events/
- Join and amplify the OFL’s Power of Many 2025 provincial election campaign
- Read and share information about Ford’s track record from the OFL’s Ford Tracker and the Labour Council’s Ford Failed website.
- Participate in the Labour Council’s Fight For A Better Future campaign, https://www.labourcouncil.ca/fightforabetterfuture use the materials during this election, and send people to the now-postponed Activist Assembly on April 5th
- Support the OFL’s call for an “All-Hands-On-Deck” Tariff Task Force to deal with the potential impact of Trump and his threatened tariffs
- Add their names to the Pledge for Canada
- Spread the message from the Council of Canadian’s statement Unite For The Canada We Want
