It seems like a millennia ago now that Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine and is threatening nuclear war. But while most of the rest of us were still sifting through the fallout from police operations to clear Freedom Convoy protestors in Ottawa last weekend, Premier Doug Ford was busy being Doug Ford.
That is to say that he was doing what he does best – ducking responsibility and using your tax dollars to buy votes. There is, after all, the coming spring election in June to think about. And Ford has been making like Santa Claus handing out goodies lately.
On February 18, he announced plans to make highways 412 and 418 toll-free. Four days later, he upped the ante, announcing plans to do away with the vehicle licence registration fee. The latter is retroactive to March 2020. That means $240 ($120 if you live up north) in your pocket if you drive. Woohoo.
Ford’s handlers clearly have their eye on voters in the 905 and the premier’s other fave peeps in the world – drivers.
And while the election goodies may put a little extra cash in the pockets of those who drive or ride – the rebate includes owners of commercial vehicles as well as motorcycles and mopeds – it also means the province will have to find the estimated one billion bucks it will cost in revenue somewhere else. That equals some substantial cuts.
That’s the thing with the “I scratch your back, you scratch my back” brand of populist politics practiced by Ford – it only ends up costing the taxpayers he’s claiming to represent more in the long run. Typically it’s health care or education that gets dinged under such circumstances, since they account for the biggest chunks of the province’s overall budget and there’s not much leeway to chop significantly elsewhere.
The kicker: drivers will still have to renew their licence plate every one or two years for insurance purposes. So, it looks like there will be no cost savings when it comes to administration. In fact, it may end up costing more to administer the new system, according to the province’s statement announcing the change, in order to be able to share necessary info with cops. So much for getting rid of red tape. Drink!
Ford played the same politics when his brother was mayor of Toronto. That administration’s first move was to eliminate the vehicle registration tax, which blew a $55 million hole in the city’s budget, money that could have been better spent, for example, on public transit. But nah. The city continues to pay the price years later, the cumulative effect of lost millions having a domino effect on a host of services.
But back to the occupation in Ottawa. Ford managed to dodge a bullet there, so to speak. Or was it a grenade? Apologies for the military comparisons, but it was clearly an explosive situation and true to form Doug turned tail and ran for the hills. While the PM is taking his licks for standing by and waiting for the province to assume its responsibility as the situation on the ground quickly spun out of control, Ford has managed to escape blame.
Police enforcement issues of the blockade were complicated in Ottawa, to say the least, by the fact the rank and file mutinied on the much-maligned now-former chief Peter Sloly. But Ford was all-too-willing to let Justin Trudeau take the rap and force him to fix the mess by invoking the Emergencies Act and calling in the RCMP and other police from across the country.
Technically, the Ottawa police already had sufficient powers under the provincial state of emergency declared by Ford a week earlier to mobilize and clear the occupation. The interim Ottawa police chief has said as much. Those powers were used, for example, by Windsor police to marshal the resources needed to clear the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge. The Emergencies Act invoked by the feds was more about choking off financial supply lines to the occupation’s organizers.
Ford stayed out of the spotlight to avoid public exposure, even managing a trip to cottage country for some snowmobiling. Notice how the scene in Ottawa wasn’t repeated on Doug’s doorstep at Queen’s Park in Toronto? That’s because Doug wouldn’t allow it. No doubt he read the riot act, so to speak, to Toronto police brass with whom he is intimately acquainted.
Presumably, he could have put his foot down in Ottawa. But the occupation was too entrenched for things not to get messy so he bailed – or made a strategic retreat.
His old bud and former chief of staff Dean French was on the ground in the nation’s capital allegedly trying to broker a deal between the city and truckers, which backfired and resulted in only a handful of them moving out of area neighbourhoods and closer to Parliament Hill. Pfft.
But Ford didn’t want to be seen as too hands-on. He denied French was in Ottawa at his direction. But as one Liberal party operative at Queen’s Park observed, “They [the protestors] are ostensibly his voters.” No doubt, Doug needs their support.
Hence, his announcement shortly after the Ambassador Bridge was cleared that Ontario would be lifting COVID-19 restrictions early.
It was mostly ignored during the tumult in Ottawa, but there was a short video recording floating around social media posted by one Tyler Russell of Canada First, which is described by the Canadian Anti-hate Network as a “white supremacist” group. It was three days before Ford’s announcement that COVID restrictions would be lifted. Ford can be heard on speakerphone in the video telling Russell that “We’re pulling these passports. We’re going to get back to normal. I can’t give you the exact date but it’s going to be very soon.”
So Dougie was working back channels alright, only it was to reassure the anti-vaccine types that changes were coming.
Another thing Ford could have done to defuse the situation in Ottawa was to order the Ministry of Transportation to suspend the licences of those taking part in the convoy blockades. That was eventually done last week. The ministry reports that some 58 plates were suspended.
Police action would have been required anyway to remove protestors. But we’ll never know if more truckers would have abandoned the blockade earlier if the province had moved earlier. Some truckers did leave after the feds announced licences could be seized under the Emergencies Act.
Presumably, the parliamentary committee that will be set up under the Emergencies Act to review the blockades will delve into some of these issues. But it’s not required to report to the House for another year, and the Conservative Party opposition – which has its own covering up to do for rhetoric encouraging the blockades – is trying to delay the establishment of the committee, according to a statement released by Government House leader Mark Holland.
There is lots to unpack, including the role of foreign money and big data and the campaign of misinformation fuelling the blockades. But the provincial election will be over by that time. The cheque from Dougie, however, is already in the mail.
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