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Articles on Doug Ford

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People hold rally signs during a Toronto rally raising concerns and opposition to the Ontario provincial government’s plans to expand mining operations in the so-called Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario in July 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Indigenous consultation is key to the Ring of Fire becoming Canada’s economic superpower

Ontario’s Ring of Fire could make Canada a minerals superpower, but Indigenous consultation is essential to ensure doing so does not harm reconciliation or Canada’s global reputation.
Political commentators have expressed concern that Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to appoint former staffers to a committee that helps select provincial judges could politicize the courts. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Doug Ford’s political judicial appointments: Good or bad for justice and democracy?

Appointing individuals who may have links to the party in power is not necessarily troublesome, as long as the process emphasizes legal knowledge and fairness, and not partisan considerations.
A hot spot from the Lower East Adams Lake wildfire burns in Scotch Creek, B.C., in August 2023. Provincial premiers have increasingly turned their backs on climate action, forcing the federal government to largely go it alone. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Are freeloading premiers undermining Canada’s climate strategy?

A little more than five years ago, there was a strong federal-provincial consensus around climate action. With the election of several Conservative premiers since then, that consensus has vanished.
Attendees clap as they listen during a ‘teach-in on Gaza’ lecture at Rutgers University on Oct. 27, 2023, in New Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Campus tensions and the Mideast crisis: Will Ontario and Alberta’s ‘Chicago Principles’ on university free expression stand?

In Ontario and in Alberta, university decisions about balancing free expression and protection from harm will be an important test of recent university policy shifts pertaining to free expression.
NDP MPP, Sarah Jama, a Black woman, was censured by the Ontario Legislature for her comments which called on Canada to refrain from military intervention in the Middle East. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Power)

Sarah Jama’s censure: Making people feel uncomfortable is part of the job

The response to Sarah Jama’s comments on Gaza highlights the anti-Black and Islamophobic sentiments within Canadian politics.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford plows a field with a tractor at the recent 2023 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo, in Bowling Green, Ont. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Ontario’s Greenbelt is safe for now, but will the scandal alter Doug Ford’s course?

The Greenbelt fiasco has been an enormous distraction from the challenges facing the Greater Toronto Area — and it’s doubtful the Ford government will significantly change its approach.
Doug Ford’s Greenbelt reversal may be politically painful but is vital to protecting Ontario’s biodiversity from development, seen here just outside the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario’s Greenbelt: A step in the right direction, but is it enough to protect biodiversity?

In reversing his decision on the Greenbelt, Doug Ford made no mention of ecology or biodiversity, the very things the Greenbelt was created to protect.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced a reversal of his government’s decision to open parts of the Greenbelt to developers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tara Walton

Doug Ford reverses Greenbelt plans: Construction would never have provided affordable housing

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s plan to allow developers to build projects on parts of the Greenbelt was under the auspices of providing additional housing. But it would never have been affordable.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to journalists at the Ontario legislature in Toronto in August 2023, amid the growing Greenbelt scandal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Why is Doug Ford doubling down amid Ontario’s Greenbelt scandal?

The Greenbelt scandal is among the most serious of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s years in office. So why is he pressuring developers to accelerate construction on Greenbelt lands?
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., on Aug. 11, 2023, two days after a scathing auditor general report into the Greenbelt. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Doug Ford’s Greenbelt scandal: The beginning of the end of his years in power?

Ontario’s Doug Ford government engages in a casual approach to decision-making that regards normal governance processes as nothing but delay-inducing red tape.
Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca on the campaign trail during the June 2022 election in which he failed to stop Doug Ford. The Liberals only won eight seats and Del Duca stepped down, but the party still has a future in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

Ontario Liberals are down but far from out when it comes to ruling the province

While Ontario’s Liberals failed to recapture what they lost in 2018 in the 2022 election, the bigger picture shows this isn’t particularly noteworthy nor damning for the party.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford talks to the media on a construction site in Brampton, Ont., in May 2022. Later in the year, the Ford government justified its adoption of sweeping housing legislation and the opening of parts of the Greater Toronto Area Greenbelt for development, stating that it was needed to address “the housing supply crisis.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Has Ontario’s housing ‘plan’ been built on a foundation of evidentiary sand?

Evidence suggests that Ontario neither had a shortage of pre-authorized housing starts to accommodate its growing population, nor did it have a shortage of designated land to build such homes.
Toronto Mayor John Tory speaks alongside Ontario premier Doug Ford during a joint news conference in Toronto in June 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Even without strong powers, mayors find a way to get things done

Mayors are generally successful in getting their policy preferences enacted. That’s why Ontario’s Bill 39 isn’t really necessary.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a news conference, as Education Minister Stephen Lecce looks on in Toronto on Nov. 7, 2022. Ontario has repealed legislation that imposed a contract on 55,000 education workers and invoked the notwithstanding clause. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Preventing use of the notwithstanding clause is a bad idea — and unnecessary

A Supreme Court reference on the notwithstanding clause could look beyond the highly polarized reactions to any particular law and get at the heart of the issue.
CUPE members and supporters join a demonstration outside the office of Parm Gill, Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of Milton, Ont., on Nov. 4, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

Ontario education strike fallout: Workers’ anger about economic inequalities and labour precarity could spark wider job action

Frustration about unsettled bargaining that predates the pandemic could get channelled into pronounced resistance from educational workers during the coming months.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford sits in the Ontario legislature during Question Period as members debate a bill meant to avert a planned strike by 55,000 education workers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Ontario school strike: Government’s use of the notwithstanding clause — again — is an assault on labour relations

The Ontario government’s latest use of the notwithstanding clause is at odds with its stated intention to keep kids in school amid a labour dispute — and at odds with the heart of labour relations norms.
Until the government acknowledges the critical role family physicians have in population health and on easing the burden on acute hospital care, pressures will only be relieved temporarily. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

With family doctors heading for the exits, addressing the crisis in primary care is key to easing pressure on emergency rooms

A strong primary care system keeps patients away from emergency departments and helps patients self-manage illnesses. But Ontario’s plan to ease pressure on emergency rooms ignores family medicine.

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