Andrew Rawnsley, the Chief Political Commentator of the UK's Observer newspaper, wrote this weekend:
"If a government looks bad from the outside, it will be twice as rotten on the inside. I've found this a reliable rule of thumb over the years."
He was writing about the damagingly incompetent and chaotic premiership of Boris Johnson.
But his words could equally apply to Doug Ford, a master of sophistry, who has thrown all the rules of good governance overboard.
Ford says with a straight face that he has been cleared by the Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner.
He conveniently forgets what he said at important meetings.
Scandalously, he refuses to put to the vote in the Legislature the Integrity Commissioner's recommendation to reprimand the disgraced ex Minister Steve Clark.
When did that ever become OK?
Here is the Toronto Star editorial of 3 November 2023 commenting on Ford's press conference on 31 October 2023.
It is Ford at his most shameless.
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Premier Doug Ford claims ignorance in land use debacle. Documents seem to tell a different story
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has put himself in a disgraceful position.
His only apparent defence against allegations of corruption on recent land use decisions is to claim profound ignorance of key decisions on his government’s number one priority, decisions that attracted publicity, debate and significant opposition.
Documents released this week under freedom of information legislation suggest that, as with his government’s actions on an aborted Greenbelt reopening, political staff ignored standard processes in order to override official plans and impose boundary changes on Ontario municipalities, a move also since reversed.
But with numerous comments in the emails and other internal communications to the wishes and orders of the “PO,” a reference to the premier’s office, the documents appear to take the scandal for the first time into Ford’s office.
“PO wants this done,” said one. “po has asked me for a picture to make sure (a certain property is) captured,” said another. Last-minute changes to Peel Region’s official plan came “from someone at PO,” said another.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the documents released by the advocacy groups Ecojustice and Environmental Defence suggest Ford was clearly “looped in” on the decision-making.
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said it’s “abundantly clear that all roads lead to the premier’s office.”
“The Ford government has given developers the inside track to decision making,” he said. “There are deals taking place behind closed doors designed to benefit a handful of wealthy, well-connected insiders.”
