56 toronto life December 2018

If you were one of the 3.4 million Ontarians who had voted against

him, you got exactly what you expected: a hostile, bull-headed,

slash-and-burn Tory bent on destroying any progress—on the

environment, on gender equality, on workers’ rights—the previous

government might have made over the last few years. “Promise

made, promise kept” became, to liberals, a headache-inducing,

gut-churning drumbeat.

But if you were a conservative supporter, you were pleas-

antly surprised to see a leader of uncommon intention and

efficiency. Few Tories expected the inexperienced, volatile

Ford to make so many decisions so quickly. Fewer still expected

him to put together such an experienced cabinet, one that

included his foes from the leadership fight, Caroline Mulroney

and Christine Elliott.

Once Ford arrived at Queen’s Park, he continued building

the brand that got him there. As premier, he could finally reclaim

the Ford legacy, make voters forget the humiliation and scandal

that had long tarnished the family name. He was still oafish,

with a freewheeling, hard-charging style. But authority seemed

to temper frustrations that had previously governed his

political life. And unlike at city hall, he didn’t need to build

consensus. He had the power, and he seized it with zeal.

Then, in late July, after throwing fastball after fastball, Ford

suddenly came up with a spitter. The two Doug Fords—the

steamroller and the scalpel—fused into one. The new boss let

everyone know, with characteristic bombast, that he was the

boss. He told his staff that he was going to cut Toronto city coun-

cil in half. And he was going to do it immediately. It may not have

been a campaign promise, but shrewd Ford-watchers shouldn’t

have been surprised. “If I ever get to the provincial level of politics,”

he wrote in his 2016 book, Ford Nation, “municipal affairs is the

first thing I would want to change.”

Rob Ford had wanted to cut council as soon as he became

mayor, but he lacked support, both from the provincial govern-

ment and council itself. And that was the problem, according

to Doug. You couldn’t get anything done at city hall. It was

bloated, dysfunctional, ineffectual. If there were fewer squab-

bling councillors, the new premier believed, maybe the Scar-

borough subway would be built by now. Maybe there wouldn’t

be so much traffic when he drove in to Queen’s Park. Plus, he

said, it would save money—about $25 million in councillor

salaries and staff over four years.

But many people believe that Ford’s real motive was to settle

scores. For years, other councillors had routinely, publicly mocked

the Ford brothers’ ideas, accused them of racism and homopho-

bia and incompetence, and eventually stripped Rob of his mayoral

powers. Who was laughing now? One city staffer explained it to

me thusly: “He’s saying, ‘You walked all over my brother and

were unkind to him and now I’m going to get you.’ ”

According to multiple sources, a turf battle emerged over the

decision. Jenni Byrne, Ford’s principal secretary and a former

Harper campaign manager, objected. Toronto’s in the middle of

a campaign, she said. It’s not right. They could do this later, when

it wouldn’t be so disruptive. Kory Teneycke, who had been Ford’s

campaign manager, thought it was bad for the brand. There were

reasons people liked him, he suggested, and there were reasons

people didn’t. This fit into the reasons-people-didn’t bucket, so

why were they doing it? (Teneycke declined to comment on this,

except to say, “The advice I gave the premier is the advice I gave

the premier.”)

But Ford was undeterred. On July 30, the government tabled

the Better Local Government Act, cutting Toronto’s wards from

47 to 25. In Toronto, there were howls of outrage. Many left-

leaning councillors decried Ford’s meddling, calling it reckless

and anti-democratic. They (accurately) predicted that the election

would become a municipal Hunger Games, pitting long-time

incumbents against one another. Ford’s allies on council— Giorgio

Mammoliti, Vincent Crisanti, Ford’s nephew, Michael—were,

unsurprisingly, in favour of the move. Mayor John Tory, with

whom Ford has long had a combative, if mutually useful, relation-

ship, condemned the legislation, albeit too weakly for some.

When Ford threatened to invoke, for the first time in

Ontario’s history, the notwithstanding clause of the Charter,

the resistance extended to surprising corners. Amnesty

International condemned the use of the clause. Conservative

elders like Brian Mulroney and Bill Davis followed. Nick

Kouvalis, the political strategist who helped run campaigns

for John Tory and Rob Ford, had told me Doug was going to

be a great premier. During the council crisis, he called me and,

with an exasperated, disbelieving laugh, asked if he could

amend his quote. He went on to say that Ford was blowing his

chance to clean up his family name, to show everybody that

he was strong and competent. But Ford does not back down,

and by the end of September, Toronto had 25 wards.

I

In the weeks after

Doug Ford became

Ontario’s 26th premier,

there seemed to be

two men governing

the province.

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