Premier Doug Ford tried to push his vision for a prosperous Ontario amid a barrage of criticism from his opponents in the first (and only) provincial leaders’ debate in Ontario’s election.
Doug Ford of the Progressive Conservative Party defended his record before leaders Andrea Horwath (NDP), Steven Del Duca (Liberal) and Mike Schreiner (Green). Four years after repeatedly attacking Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne during the debate, it was Doug Ford who had to respond to the grievances of his opponents. The scenario was reversed, but some of the attacks remained unchanged.
Rings from his binder of notes overhanging his podium, Doug Ford insisted that his opponents “are going to raise your taxes”. The Liberal Party’s fifteen years of power before the 2018 election, he suggested, meant that Ontario’s economy “went down faster than the Canadian bobsled team” and the long-term care he inherited was in poor shape.
The employees of the TVO public network control room, where the debate was taking place, kindly made sure to cut the microphones of the candidates when their speaking time was over, the exchanges became cacophonous at times. “Doug Ford works for his friends,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said. “Doug Ford is rehearsing the 2018 script,” we heard from Liberal Steven Del Duca.
The 2018 election colored the debate, but not as much as the prime minister’s handling of the pandemic, a subject which until now had not been one of the main themes of the campaign. The Prime Minister touted a $3 per hour wage increase offered to orderlies, the possible opening of a medical school in Brampton, and the construction of hospitals.
But his opponents preferred to make the past two years a test of the prime minister’s valor and leadership. “Have you spoken to a nurse recently?” About how overworked and underpaid they are,” asked Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, who stood out with his pointed questions to other candidates. Under the Ford government, “heroes were treated like dust,” said Andrea Horwath.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.