Doug Ford says he isn't going anywhere

“In eight years, Justin Trudeau wasn’t sitting at 41 per cent,” the premier said Tuesday.

That was a reference to both the former Liberal prime minister, who resigned last year, and public support for the Tories reported in last month’s Abacus Data tracking poll.

“With all due respect to the other premiers, I’m Doug Ford, I’m not Dalton McGuinty … and I’m sure the heck not Justin Trudeau,” he said at a condo construction site at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets. 

“All you’ve done is attacked me since I’ve been up here,” Ford complained to journalists.

He was on hand — with Mayor Olivia Chow, federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson and a legion of other elected officials — to talk about the reduction in development charges designed to boost home construction.

The federal-provincial development charge reduction fund will give the city of Toronto $1.5 billion over three years to reduce such fees by up to 60 per cent and potentially lead to 44,000 new housing units being built.

Chow said the previously announced program should make it “easier” for people to afford housing in the city while creating thousands of construction jobs here.

But the premier’s news conference was dominated by questions about his recent poll numbers and the fact that Ontario Public Service Employees Union members disrupted his Ford Fest rally Friday night at Scarborough’s Thomson Memorial Park.

“Am I disappointed that … they dropped off four busloads of protesters and were using vulgar language, using the F-word every 10 seconds in front of little kids and families and intimidating thousands of our supporters?” he said in response to a reporter’s question

“Am I disappointed? Yeah, I’m disappointed that they came in and used vulgar language and tried to disrupt it, but they were there for about an hour and then they left and everyone had a great time.”

Ford — who ignored a query about an aerial drone photo two of his MPPs distributed on social media that appeared to have been edited to make protesters look like supporters by colour-correcting their shirts from OPSEU purple to Tory blue — said the picnic would return next year.

In the wake of a Star story posted Monday that reported on the rampant speculation at Queen’s Park about possible successors to the three-term premier, he maintained he would win a fourth consecutive election.

“If the election was held today, we wouldn’t just form a majority, we would form another … supermajority,” boasted Ford, noting he increased his party’s popular vote in the 2018, 2022 and 2025 campaigns.

“Polls only count on election day,” he said, before listing his own internal Campaign Research polling as well as findings from “Abacus, a very reputable firm” that does the Star’s public-opinion surveys.

His indication he has no plans to retire — despite being 61 and older than former premiers McGuinty, Mike Harris and Bill Davis were when they resigned while in office — came after the Star reported there are many potential candidates to replace him.

They include: Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce, 39; Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, 48, the previous Tory leader; Finance Minister and Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy, 63; Education Minister Paul Calandra, 56; Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, 37; Environment Minister Todd McCarthy, 63; Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack, 67; and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford, 58.

Also being touted are former ministers Monte McNaughton, 49, and Caroline Mulroney, 52.