Mitglieder seiner eigenen Partei Sorge Doug Ford sind nicht konservativ genug. Seine Unterstützer sagen, na und?
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/members-of-his-own-party-worry-doug-ford-isnt-conservative-enough-his-supporters-say-so/article_966aed36-3971-45e0-a74c-4a21c2e667d3.html
8 Kommentare
While I’m not particularly fond of Ford, I must applaud his ability to read what the province actually thinks and provide somewhat digestible solutions that don’t create issues that are unifying for the opposition (which considering abysmal provincial election turnout over the last few years, I’d say it’s working).
My issue with Ford isn’t that he’s not conservative enough, but rather than he governs according to his own personal whims. Things like spending billions on a spa, because he personally thinks it’s cool. This is no way to lead a government.
And unfortunately Doug has no interest in fiscal responsibility or managing the economy. So Ontario’s economy has just been in continual gradual decline under Doug’s watch.
The thing I find hilarious about the OPCs over the past decade is that both Brown and Ford won leadership elections by duping the membership into believing they were True Blue social conservative/populists, only to pivot at different times. (Brown pivoted pretty much instantly when he became party leader and gained the ire of his base similarly to what Erin O’Toole did federally, while Ford was a bit more subtle about it and didn’t make a full break until his electoral coalition/voting bloc was fully cemented.
While the OPC kept self sabotaging itself by electing leaders that were either stated social conservatives/populists at the time the were running for the position (Hudak, Brown and Ford etc.), Ford and Brown at least understood that those positions were too polarizing and unpopular to actually keep them in power. Though Ford was able to pull it off without those conservative voters hounding him as a traitor/closet-liberal the way that they did for Brown and O’Toole etc. which is fairly impressive.
Part of the problem is that thanks mostly to external influences (ie: other countries destabilization efforts) and some internal influences (I’m looking at you and the IDU, Stephen Harper), Canada has seen a shift right in the Overton Window over the last decade particularly. To the point now where any so-called “conservative” to the left of Benito Mussolini is considered a raving socialist or communist by hard-liners.
“Traditional” conservative values – fiscal responsibility, small government, capitalism, family values, etc – are now given lip service only, and have been replaced by “my way or the highway” policies that come mostly from far right, hard liner, voter bases. You can see this very clearly in Alberta, where Danielle Smith’s policies since her election in 2023 have seen minority support at best, but from very vocal, very powerful, groups within the UCP membership (like Take Back Alberta).
I don’t think Doug Ford, as much as I dislike his politics, is an evil man, just a greedy and corrupt one. When they say “not conservative enough,” they mean hateful and evil.
He’s not a social conservative and seems to be quiet on any issues of the sort. Probably his only redeeming quality in my eyes. I don’t even think he’s a fiscal conservative, rather the kind of right wing politician that uses fiscal conservatism as a cover to enrich his buddies and indirectly himself.
During COVID, Ford threw *eight* MPPs out of the party for not being double vaccinated, then won an election in which the oppositions criticised him for not being serious enough about COVID because they were doomscrolling American news.
It seems like he learnt that lesson.
I’m not a Ford Supporter but as a PC I tolerate him.
He’s a far cry from the OPC greats like Davis (and his predecessors Frost, Robarts) as he’s not fiscally responsible, fiscally interventionist or culturally conservative that the OPC traditionally represented.
On the other hand appreciate his nationalistic approach of late (even if it’s probably phoney). He’s not socially conservative, nor as callous as the neoconservatives or the Right Wing Populists either.
He’s a far cry from the OPC greats but he’s keeping the worst of the OPC out of power so I’ll tolerate him.