'Don't plow our Charter': Doug Ford finds support and opposition at Plowing Match
Urgency of midnight Queen's Park session was in part so MPPs could attend the Plowing Match
After weeks of facing protesters over his plan to downsize Toronto City Council, Ontario Premier Doug Ford got a much warmer welcome at the International Plowing Match in Pain Court, Ont., this week.
"I think it's finally time that we have a premier that's going to do something for the people," said Keith Thompson of St. Mary's, Ont.
When asked if what Ford was doing in Toronto was good for the people there, he replied: "They have to wake up and smell the coffee down there, as far as I'm concerned."
Ford held a rare midnight session of the Ontario legislature Monday to push through legislation to cut the number of Toronto city councillors from 47 to 25.
The urgency of the midnight Queen's Park session was in part to make sure MPPs could attend the Plowing Match, an annual fixture on the political calendar.
Ford's attendance was "a must," said John Corp who was attending the event. "This is everything Ontario, everything Canadian — he needs to be here."
Ford's Efficient Local Government Act has been met with protests and legal challenges. A court decision blocked it on Sept. 10, but Ford threatened to override it by invoking the notwithstanding clause of the Charter.
Ontario's highest court stayed that original court decision Thursday, allowing the act to proceed.
Ford did meet some opposition at the match, including protesters carrying a banner reading "Don't Plow Our Charter."
Toronto man Sean Moore approached Ford while he was speaking with The Current, and told Ford to "leave my city alone."
"You've found the one guy that disagrees with me in this whole place," Ford said.
He also faced off against NDP provincial leader Andrea Horwath. The pair are used to facing each other across the aisle at Queen's Park — this time they sat on opposing tractors.
"We should have never had to be in the legislature in the wee hours of the morning yesterday," said Horwath, leader of the Opposition.
"We shouldn't have to be worried about coming and celebrating rural Ontario," Horwath added, "because Doug Ford should have never brought Bill 5 forward, and never put the city of Toronto into the chaos that he's put them into."
Listen to full discussion near the top of this page.
Produced by The Current's Peter Mitton.