The Doug Ford Circus: Priceless

Doug Ford claimed he was going to be the everyman’s premier. The dude who champions a buck a beer, curses red tape, and vows to “stick up for the little guy.” Lately, it’s the little guy who keeps footing the bill for Ford’s political theatre. Between his $75-million Reagan-themed ad campaign that blew up Canada–U.S. trade talks and his whisky-pouring tantrum over the Crown Royal plant closure, Ontario’s premier has become the poster child for performative politics with billion-dollar consequences.

“It seems that Doug Ford is getting good at shooting himself in the foot while bragging about his aim.”

A few weeks ago, Premier Ford proudly announced he authorized spending an estimated $75 million of taxpayer money producing and airing a slick campaign across U.S. media using edited clips of Ronald Reagan’s 1987 address on fair trade. The ad was meant to pressure Washington over tariffs on Canadian goods as negotiations were reaching a fever pitch. Instead, it misrepresented Reagan’s speech, angered the Reagan Presidential Foundation, and got under Donald Trump’s skin. Trump promptly ended all trade negotiations with Canada and slapped an extra 10% tariff on goods heading south. It seems that Doug Ford is getting good at shooting himself in the foot while bragging about his aim.

This was not just a communications blunder; it was an economic gut-punch. Ontario exports roughly $230 billion annually to the U.S. A 10% tariff, even applied selectively, means billions in lost competitiveness, higher consumer prices, and real pain for Ontario manufacturers already battling systemic inflation and supply-chain issues. All of this was triggered by a vanity project disguised as statesmanship. Ford wanted to play Mr. Tough Guy on free trade, but what he delivered was a stunt so tone-deaf it torpedoed the very relationships he claimed to protect.

Adding insult to injury, this is the same man who celebrated Trump’s 2024 victory. He was caught on video saying he was “100% happy” with the result a day after the November 2024 election. Yet, when that same Trump retaliated against Canada, Ford suddenly morphed into the anti-Trump champion of Ontario sovereignty. You cannot toast a man’s win one week and then cry foul when his policies hit your economy the next. America First was always going to be America First.

Ford’s showmanship doesn’t stop at the border. When Diageo, the multinational behind Crown Royal, announced it would shut its century-old bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ford did what Ford does best, he pulled another stunt. Standing outside at a lectern with cameras rolling, he poured a bottle of Crown Royal onto the pavement (which took forever in media time) and vowed to pull the brand from LCBO shelves. “You hurt my people; I’ll hurt you,” he declared, as though symbolic whiskey waste and empty threats would reverse global corporate strategy.

What Ontario could use is a real, thought-out industrial response to protect jobs, retrain workers, and strengthen local production. What we got instead was a viral clip and a promise to play tough guy with a global conglomerate that sells $740 million a year through the LCBO. If that is your economic strategy, you might as well pour out the taxpayers’ money next to the whiskey.

“Ontario’s economy doesn’t need a mascot, it needs a manager.”

Ontario’s economy doesn’t need a mascot, it needs a manager. It needs someone who can sit down with trade partners and corporate leaders and negotiate, not just perform toughness for the evening news. Manufacturing, agriculture, and export sectors depend on quiet competence, not blustery showdowns. Every time Ford reaches for the camera instead of the policy brief, Ontario’s workers lose leverage, and taxpayers foot another round of his political theatre.

We are bombarded with TV ads touting the unlocking of the “ring of fire” and its natural resources and how we will soon reap the benefits, yet we never get an actual update and see a multi-year plan with measurable outcomes on where that project stands. Evidently, the Ontario government assumes its citizens can be played and will continue to do so.

So yes, we do have to ask: do we have a perpetual populist, or a professional hypocrite running the province? The evidence points to both. When the smoke clears, it’s not the premier who pays. It’s the rest of us. Doug Ford says he listens to ‘Ford Nation,’ the people of Ontario who want honest government. We must move beyond resistance and let him know how we feel, respectfully, but truthfully. If these issues concern you, place a call to his office today (416) 325-1941 and kindly demand that we get less stunts and more leadership