海角大神

Doug Ford鈥檚 leadership is making friends out of foes in Ontario

His political foes on the left labeled him 鈥淒onald Trump of the North.鈥� Not entirely accurate, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been known as a brawler.

The government spent most of this academic year battling with teachers over cuts to public education. It cut Toronto鈥檚 City Council in half during municipal elections, which was decried as undemocratic.聽Mr. Ford has raged noisily against the federal government鈥檚 carbon tax to address climate change.

In March, his government didn鈥檛 appear to take the coronavirus seriously. Before spring break, he told Ontario families to travel and 鈥渉ave fun.鈥�

But as the risks of the pandemic grew, Mr. Ford shifted his stance. He still rails, but now it鈥檚 not against political rivals, but at price gougers or at no one in particular 鈥� saying 鈥渢he buck stops here鈥� 鈥� about Ontario鈥檚 lagging behind on testing, for example.聽

At daily press conferences, he speaks plainly and defers to the health experts on the stage 鈥� surprising critics, and prompting their praise in return.

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Canada鈥檚 Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 Liberal government, told the Toronto Star that she and Mr. Ford have 鈥渃ome to describe one another as .鈥澛�

Andrew Weaver, former Green Party leader of British Columbia, tweeted: 鈥淲hile I can鈥檛 say I have historically been a fan of @fordnation, I have to say he is doing an incredible job on the COVID-19 file. He has shown strong, decisive and compassionate leadership at a critical moment in Ontario鈥檚 history.鈥�

The media, arguably his biggest foe, have earned his praise 鈥� and they鈥檝e given it .

While the pandemic has generated a bitterly partisan divide in the United States, with protests over lockdowns that President Donald Trump has appeared to endorse, Canada has strived for consensus. That unity is not immutable, and stressors have already built up. But many Canadian politicians have put aside politics to address the threat of COVID-19, and no relationship demonstrates that better than that of Mr. Ford to his opponents.

鈥淗is government came into office being completely obtuse about criticism, just completely unwilling to listen to people and doing things almost belligerently because they could,鈥� says Tim Abray, a political communications expert in Ottawa, 鈥渁nd I think that tone has disappeared.鈥�

Mr. Abray says Premier Ford has always been a street-level politician with a skill for talking to people, even if foes failed to see it. 鈥淭he thing I鈥檓 pleasantly surprised about is that he鈥檚 making the most of his grassroots, ground-level political instincts, while at the same time, paying attention to expert advice.鈥�

As citizens rally around leaders, approval in a time of crisis, and this pandemic is no different (although President Trump鈥檚 approval has gone down to 43%, according to a ). An Angus Reid Institute showed 74% of respondents in Ontario saying the provincial government was handling the crisis well.

Over the weekend, Canadian protesters calling for an end to lockdowns in Toronto did get a scathing rebuke from Mr. Ford, when he called them 鈥渁 bunch of yahoos.鈥�

Marie Henein, a defense lawyer in Toronto, has not been a fan. But in the April 9 opinion pages of The Globe and Mail, she penned a piece describing her new 鈥�.鈥� 鈥淚t is not easy to heap praise in his direction,鈥� she wrote.

In fact, 18 months a warning to the Ontario premier about bullying. 鈥淪o here is your final lesson: Mr. Trump is not a good example to follow. Do not forget, Premier Ford, we are Canadian and inherently decent to a fault. The rough-and-tumble populist appeal to which you, apparently, aspire has long-term, negative consequences for the country.鈥�

Today she says that as Mr. Ford has listened to experts, speaking authentically and with empathy in a crisis, she has come to gradually shift her view 鈥� and sees his change as an antidote to a larger problem with politics, in North America and beyond. 鈥淪omehow acting without evidence and acting contrary to information is viewed as being authentic. 鈥� And I think what is important is really to remember that that is very much contrary to what effective leadership is,鈥� she says. 鈥淓vidence-based leadership is not contrary to strong, powerful, and decisive leadership.鈥�

Mr. Ford has been a voice for cooperation across the political aisle. In the Ontario legislature he told politicians in March: 鈥淣ow is the time to put politics aside. No matter what our political stripe, we must all be Team Ontario and Team Canada.鈥�

A survey by the reflected consensus at the national level, showing no differences along in views on distancing measures or the seriousness of the threat of COVID-19. While Mr. Abray cautions that politics will return and break some of the consensus, he says that Canada still has room for bipartisan friendships, like that of Mr. Ford and Ms. Freeland 鈥� even if in recent years more partisanship has crept into Canada鈥檚 system.

Cristine de Clercy, a political science professor at Western University in Ontario, says that Canada is smaller than the U.S. and has a unique political structure that marries federalism to a parliamentary system. 鈥淏ecause the premier or the prime minister sits among the legislators with the cabinet, that creates a very top-heavy executive-dominant political system, which in normal times we complain about, but in times of crisis can act quickly and efficiently.鈥�

She is cautious about defining Mr. Ford鈥檚 leadership at this early stage. Mr. Ford released a roadmap Monday for Ontario鈥檚 economic reopening to mixed reviews. Still grappling with among the nation鈥檚 highest , Ontario is currently under a spotlight for funding cuts and low wages that have made long-term care facilities particularly vulnerable. Along with Quebec, Ontario requested that Canada鈥檚 armed forces be sent into nursing homes to reinforce care. Mr. Ford choked up last week during a daily press conference, saying 鈥渨e can do better鈥� when it comes to COVID-19 hitting long-term care homes. He also revealed that his mother-in-law, who is 95 and lives in a home, has tested positive.

鈥淏ut what I would credit him for is that he followed the lead of other leaders like Mr. Trudeau 鈥� in terms of accepting input from his science and health policy advisers and paying rapt attention to their predictions about the seriousness of COVID,鈥� says Professor de Clercy.

Is that a low bar? 鈥淥n the normative question, 鈥楽hould he listen to his scientific advisers?鈥� Of course. One presumes political leaders ought to, especially in the case of a pandemic. But empirically, we know that many have chosen not to,鈥� she says. 鈥淢any American governors still are refusing to listen to their scientific advisers to force citizens to isolate, to shut down key industries.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: This story was updated Tuesday morning, April 28.聽