Ontario Premier Doug Ford Says He Still Supports Justin Trudeau’s Use Of The Emergencies Act

Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a press conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his support for the use of the Emergencies Act to clear the Freedom Convoy protest around the Parliament building in Ottawa. 

Ford stated after being asked what his position was on the Emergencies Act after some time passed since he originally supported its use in February that:

I stood shoulder to shoulder with the prime minister…If you disrupt the lives of the people of Ottawa every single day, disrupt the lives of economic flow across our borders, I have zero tolerance for it.

Ford then went on to ironically state that “if you want to protest, protest” as if his support for the violent police crackdown on the peaceful protest in Ottawa doesn’t contradict that empty sentiment. 

That sentiment is also contradicted by the fact Ottawa police also cracked down hard on people trying to park during the single-day ‘Rolling Thunder’ protest in Ottawa on Canada day, where protesters were arrested for previously taking part in the Freedom Convoy protest. 

It should be noted that Premier Doug Ford had not just backed Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act in spirit and had actually used his own emergency legislation in order to confiscate 39 trucking companies who had vehicles take part in the Freedom Convoy protest. Most of the companies were for singular contractors, but it still was an unjustifiable infringement on commerce freedoms in Ontario.

It is not too surprising Ford still supports Trudeau these days since Ford has made very deliberate political moves to the left on both fiscal and social policy. In fact, based on the terrible donation numbers for the Ontario Liberals last quarter, it seems that the Ford PC Party has supplanted them and become the dominant centre-left party in the province. The Progressive Conservative Party has effectively just become the ‘Progressive Party.’

This is also why in the last election Ontario voters saw a rise in alternative parties willing to stand up for conservative voters displeased by Doug Ford’s lack of principles, most notably the New Blue Party of Ontario, which garnered over 127,000 votes in its first-ever election, and is focusing on continuing to grow with the goal to replace the PCs.

Hopefully, now that the last provincial election is long over and the threat of the NDP and Liberals taking over the province was shown to be overstated, PC voters will reevaluate their ongoing support for Ford’s government and hopefully join a more principled party like New Blue.