How seriously should once and perhaps future Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie take Premier Doug Ford’s threat that he would “send an army” to help incumbent Carolyn Parrish defeat her?
If history is any indication, not very.
The Progressive Conservative premier made headlines when asked about the possibility of Crombie, who resigned as provincial Liberal leader in January, returning to municipal politics in the city she ran for a decade.
“It was an absolute disaster under Bonnie Crombie,” Ford said March 25 at a Mississauga construction site.
“You know something? I never get involved in municipal elections, but I will send an army down here to make sure I support Mayor (Carolyn) Parrish.”
Three and a half months later, as Crombie launches a bid for mayor Tuesday, Ford is decidedly more measured.
“As the premier has said before, he will work with anyone, no matter their political stripe,” his office said Monday.
Indeed, that is one of his mantras.
“I’m not big into these political stripes. I don’t care if you’re from the red, blue, green or orange party. I’ll work with anyone,” he has said repeatedly over the years.
While Ford may be prone to bluster, he does walk the walk when it comes to that sort of post-partisan talk. Many of the mayors he works most closely with are former rivals or adversaries.
Twelve years ago, Ford finished second to John Tory in the Toronto mayoral race (ahead of third-place candidate Olivia Chow). It was an acrimonious contest that he was bitter to lose.
Yet it was to help Tory, himself a former PC leader, that Ford introduced “strong mayor” powers in 2022 that are now available to scores of Ontario municipalities.
In the mayoral byelection the following year, the premier warned that the left-leaning Chow would be “an unmitigated disaster” for the city because taxes would skyrocket.
After she succeeded Tory, however, Ford then inked a “new deal” with the city, uploading responsibility for the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to the province, saving Toronto a fortune in maintenance costs and giving the new mayor a major political victory.
Improbably, he also publicly rallied to Chow’s defence when businessman Thomas Caldwell took out full-page newspaper ads headlined “Cry for Toronto” that blamed her for the city’s problems.
“Let’s give the mayor a fair shot here,” Ford said in 2023. “I’ve got to comment on that (Caldwell) letter. It kind of disturbed me. She just got elected. We’ve known the mayor and her family for a long time and it’s not an easy game.”
His magnanimity has also extended to Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca and Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, once fierce opponents at Queen’s Park.
When Del Duca was Liberal leader and Horwath led the NDP, their focus was on toppling Ford’s Tories. Now, the Vaughan mayor may be the premier’s favourite civic politician, frequently earning praise from him as “one of the best” for getting rid of speed cameras, keeping taxes low and introducing bubble zones to protect Jews and other persecuted minorities at their places of worship.
Similarly, at joint announcements with the Hamilton mayor, Ford has said he is “thrilled to be standing with” Horwath “instead of (her) standing across the aisle from me.”
Another former provincial party leader with whom the premier once sparred is Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, his predecessor as PC chief.
Brown’s memoir, “Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown,” was disparaged by Ford upon its publication in 2018. “The lies in this book are disgusting,” he said on social media at the time.
But with Brown touted as a potential successor as PC leader and premier, the mayor is now hailed by Ford as ”a champion for Brampton.”
Mindful of that willingness to change his mind, Crombie will note Tuesday “Premier Ford and I have disagreed in the past but we need to put those differences behind us.”
That’s according to notes from her launch speech, shared with the Star.
“Doug also has a record of working effectively with mayors who led provincial parties against him,” she is expected to say.
“I think that reflects something important about him: at the end of the day, he is focused on getting results. So am I.”
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