Doug Ford is the surprise celebrity at Dawn Gallagher Murphy’s third annual tax-payer funded BBQ yesterday at Riverwalk Commons in downtown Newmarket.
It is a beautiful warm sunny day.
The premier tells the packed crowd:
“We are so blessed to have Dawn down at Queen's Park and having a voice for Newmarket and the entire region. And I just want to say Dawn, thank you. Down there she’s the hardest working MPP we have at Queen's Park. Done an incredible job.”
He spots Newmarket’s Mayor, John Taylor, who is there along with a contingent from the Town council, Tom Vegh, Christina Bisanz and Grace Simon. 
“I saw the Mayor round here somewhere… there you are Mayor Taylor! Does an incredible job. You never miss him in a crowd. He’s a lot taller than everyone and I’m a lot wider. But that’s the only difference. I gotta get your height! Stretch a little bit!”
We learn that Taylor is now doing an “incredible job”. And yet only eighteen months ago Ford was singling him out for criticizing the Government’s housing policy.
Undeliverable
Taylor had impertinently dismissed Ford’s housing targets as “undeliverable” and accused the Premier of planning to transfer huge infrastructure costs from developers to taxpayers. All true. And Taylor went a step further by defending the protected Greenbelt at a time when Ford was still planning to open it up for development.
Anyway… that was all a long time ago. Ford wants us all to forgive and forget.
Ford is on his best behaviour. He is affable and cracks jokes. He is the man of the people. Ready for the campaign ahead.
There's no mention of the ludicrous 50km road tunnel he plans to construct under our feet.
More and more and more doctors
He fires endless rounds of statistics at his audience, each one crying out to be fact-checked. He tells us:
“We’ve registered over 13,500 more doctors.”
On 24 July 2023 the Ministry of Heath reported:
Since 2018 nearly 8,000 new doctors have registered to work in Ontario.
In January 2024 a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said the provincial government had added more than 10,400 new doctors since 2018.
Who do you believe?
And what about the number of doctors who are retiring?
But that’s for another day.
Sunday was all about the incredible Dawn Gallagher Murphy and her wonderful celebratory BBQ.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Update on 1 October 2024 from the Toronto Star: Ford's tunnel will never be built.
Below: from this morning's Globe and Mail (30 September 2024)
