He’s Back!
But the old Doug really came back to the fore recently with two pieces of legislation introduced on October 20, ostensibly as measures to combat the pandemic. One of them would prohibit the use of ranked ballots for municipal elections, notwithstanding the fact that the City of London had already held one election on this basis and that other municipalities, including Toronto, are considering it. The rationale given is that municipalities should not “experiment” with changes to municipal voting during the pandemic and that all levels of government have used the same “first past the post” method of election since Confederation. The supreme irony and hypocrisy of Ford’s position is that he was chosen leader of the Conservative Party on the basis of a ranked ballot method of election.
His victory also exposed one of the potential flaws of ranked ballots. Even though Christine Elliott received more votes in total, Ford won the leadership race when his sudden embrace of radical right wing views won him the backing (and almost all the supporters) of extremist Tanya Granic Allen when she was eliminated from the ballot. She, in turn, was subsequently dropped as a Conservative candidate in the election that brought Ford to power, after remarks of hers attacking abortion and gay marriage.
It now appears that Ford’s support for extreme right wing views may have been more than a tactic to win the ranked ballot election. In the second piece of legislation dealing with COVID that the Conservatives introduced on October 20, there is a provision that would elevate Canada Christian College to a university with the power to grant Bachelor of Science and Arts degrees. This college is headed by a very controversial figure, Charles McVety. He is a friend of Ford and also a person long associated with hate, homophobia, and Islamophobia.
Farewell new Doug, we hardly knew ye. The old Doug is back with a vengeance, channeling his inner Trump.
*I should have a sub-heading “He who hesitates … gets scooped.” I drafted this blog on the weekend, but held off on posting while I thought about it further. Then the editorial in this morning’s Globe covered much the same territory.