Ontario is under one-man rule. Who will stop Doug Ford?

[Judi Lynn]

Chris Glover
The rightwing premier has trampled on democratic norms. The province urgently needs electoral reform to prevent a repeat

Fri 11 Jan 2019 06.43 EST Last modified on Fri 11 Jan 2019 09.05 EST

Last year, while Conservative MPs in London held a confidence vote on Theresa May’s leadership, in Ontario, Conservative MPPs (Members of Provincial Parliament) were competing with each other to be the first to leap up and give rousing standing ovations each time the populist premier, Doug Ford, or one of his cabinet ministers spoke in the house.

Although Ontario’s parliament was modelled on Westminster, the contrast could not be greater. While the British parliament continuously puts checks on its leader’s power, in Ontario, the premier’s rule is so absolute that it’s been revealed that Ford’s chief of staff, Dean French, watches for Conservative MPPs who do not quickly leap to their feet for ovations.

Six months ago, running on a rightwing populist platform that was long on rhetoric but short on specifics, Doug Ford, the elder brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, was elected with a majority Conservative government. Ford has hit the ground running. Claiming a strong mandate for his non-existent platform, Ford has eliminated environmental, worker and consumer protections, cut public services, cut education funding, and teed up public assets for a mass selloff. These typically neoconservative policies are concerning, but what’s truly frightening about Ford’s reign is the way he is concentrating power in his own office and is trampling over the democratic norms of Ontario’s parliament.

In his first six months in office, he has subverted municipal elections, voted to suspend the charter rights of the people of Ontario, fired government watchdogs, made himself the arbiter of what is “free” speech on college and university campuses, opened the door for corporate funding of his next campaign, appointed his friend as commissioner of the Ontario provincial police, and appointed political allies to lucrative posts while firing political opponents.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/11/ontario-doug-ford-premier-democratic

[2naSalit]

1. Sounds like the

cheatolini problem is a pandemic rather than an anomaly.