Doug Ford shrugs off attacks by Pierre Poilievre's Tories: ‘I'm done with all this stuff'
Enough's enough.
That's the message from an exasperated Premier
Doug Ford
about
the sniping
from embattled Conservative Leader
Pierre Poilievre's
caucus toward his Ontario Progressive Conservative government.
'I'm done with all this stuff. Honestly, I'm just done,' Ford told the Star on Wednesday.
'We're going to govern,' said the premier, whose provincial Tories were re-elected Feb. 27 with a third consecutive majority.
His comments came the day after Conservative MP Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu-Appelle) claimed Poilievre, who lost his Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, was 'more popular in Ontario than Doug Ford is — just based on the votes' cast Monday.
Ford's provincial party received 2.1 million votes in February, winning 80 of the 124 seats at Queen's Park in an election with 45 per cent turnout.
In contrast, Poilievre's party garnered 3.3 million Ontario votes and won 53 of the 122 federal seats here, finishing behind Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals' tally of 3.7 million votes and 69 seats. Some 69 per cent of Ontarians cast federal ballots.
Speaking to
CTV Power Play's Vassy Kapelos
on Wednesday, Scheer, a former Tory leader, complained that Ford and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston were not there for the federal party in this campaign.
'I wish conservatives at other levels around the country would help, would be more cognizant that it's about the people. It's about the people that they represent as premiers or as other politicians. It's not about settling interpersonal differences,' he told Kapelos.
'There are dynamics that we have to figure out to make sure that doesn't happen again. But again, more people wanted Pierre Poilievre to be prime minister in Ontario than wanted Doug Ford to be premier. That's just a fact.'
In an explosive interview early Tuesday, Tory MP Jamil Jivani blasted the premier for 'sabotaging' the federal Conservatives and being a 'hype man' for Carney's Liberals.
'He couldn't stay out of our business, always getting his criticisms and all his opinions out, distracting our campaign, trying to make it about him, trying to position himself as some kind of political genius that we needed to be taking cues from,' Jivani (Bowmanville-Oshawa North) told CBC's David Common.
'I see Doug Ford as a problem for Ontario and for Canada,' said the MP, who once worked for the premier as an aide.
'He's not doing a great job in running this province, and now he's trying to exercise his influence over other levels of government and it's not like this guy is doing anything particularly well. I'm speaking from experience. I tried to fix problems in this province, and he kept getting in his way, and all his goons around him all the time, they wouldn't make anything better,' he said.
'He has taken the provincial Conservative party and turned it into something hollow, unprincipled, something that doesn't solve problems. He's glad-handing with (Transport Minister) Chrystia Freeland, having coffees and lattes with Mark Carney.'
Jivani took to
social media Wednesday
posting a doctored photo of the premier as a professional wrestler ripping off a yellow Ontario PC singlet to reveal a red Liberal T-shirt.
Doug Ford fires back at federal Tories' claims he 'sabotaged' Pierre Poilievre
That was after Ford had reminded reporters the federal party did not help him in February.
'Last time I checked, Pierre Poilievre never came out in our election,' he said in Mississauga.
'Matter of fact, he … or one of his lieutenants told every one of his members, don't you dare go out and help the PCs. Isn't that ironic?'
The Star reported Wednesday that Poilievre's office specifically ordered Conservative MPs not to publicly congratulate the provincial Tories on their victory in February — even though many share the same campaign volunteers in their ridings.
That reflected a schism that has festered for years.
Six weeks ago, the Star revealed Poilievre only reached out to Ford for the first time on March 17, two and a half years after he became federal leader.
The premier told him he would be too busy governing Ontario, the Star has learned.
During the campaign, Ford had questioned the federal Tories for not copying his strategy of making the election a referendum on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff attack against Canada.
'Sometimes the truth hurts,' the premier said two weeks ago when pressed on his political czar Kory Teneycke's assertion that the CPC was guilty of 'campaign malpractice' for not using Trump as the ballot question like Carney's Liberals did.
Despite losing his seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, Poilievre, a 21-year MP, has vowed to stay on as federal leader.
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