Premier Ford sat down to discuss democracy on Oct. 6 at a panel sponsored by Ryerson University’s faculty of arts and moderated by Martin Regg Cohn of the Toronto Star.
Though in the past Doug Ford has had a reputation of being partisan and on the offensive, it’s clear that he has changed tones from his combative style pre-pandemic.
Ford said he thinks the one o’clock time of being held ‘accountable’ should continue referencing his continuous daily news conferences since the beginning of the pandemic.
When a question compared him to President Donald Trump, Ford visibly mock-gagged and said, “Boy, that was a real slap calling me Donald Trump.”
He said he is working in a collaborative style, adding that he has been meeting with Ontario party leaders and other premiers discussing issues of the pandemic.
“I want to continue speaking with them, collaborating with them and coming up with ideas,” said Ford.
Doug Ford made masks mandatory across the province after much criticism of the policy not being timely.
This coming after Ontario heads into a second-wave.
On Oct. 9, Ontario reported 929 cases following daily new record surges.
Starting Oct. 17, Toronto, Ottawa, Peel Region moved to modified Stage 2 restrictions for at least 28 days.
The restrictions include shutting down gyms, movie theatres and indoor dining during this 28 day period.
Ontario’s COVID-19 death toll surpassed 3000 as of Oct. 17.
Ford said that all premiers work together and step up to help each other.
“Premier [Dennis] King of PEI stepped up and sent [Ontario] 2,000 [COVID-19] testing kits — which is a total of 8,000 tests.”
He said, “This is team Canada, we stick together. I’ve never seen patriotism run so high in our country.”
Here’s to hoping that Ford really has turned a new leaf and this “Doug Ford 2.0” sticks around.