Members of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government posted what appear to be edited photos of the crowd from Ford Fest near the main stage, where hundreds of OPSEU workers protested against the premier on Friday.
On Saturday, Attorney General Doug Downey and MPP David Smith’s X accounts posted several pictures from the annual free barbecue celebrating “Ford Nation” — including a birds-eye-view image depicting nearly everyone in the crowd near the main stage in blue shirts.
As documented by the Star, most of the crowd in that part of Thomson Memorial Park were wearing purple Ontario Public Sector Employees Union (OPSEU) shirts protesting the provincial government. Ford’s appearance and remarks, which the master of ceremonies kept referring to as “the big event” all evening, were drowned out by an eruption of protesters booing, chanting and blowing whistles.
“The crowd was exhilarating and kind, and the cheers were loud throughout the evening,” Smith’s X post said. “Premier Ford delivered a great speech highlighting some of the achievements under his leadership and the great work our government is doing for the people of Ontario.”
Downey’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When asked if the image was altered in any way, Smith’s office redirected the Star to the premier’s office, who has yet to respond to requests for comment.
In the aerial photo uploaded to X, there is a group of about eight people near the stage, to the centre, wearing purple shirts. As reported by the Star, and other media, there were hundreds of protesters concentrated by the main stage, compared to thousands of Ford Fest attendees sprawled across the park. Near the stage, protesters were among dozens of Ford supporters, including political staff and invited stakeholders.
The aerial photo appears to show blue balloons, while a Star reporter observed only purple and pink balloons in the crowd by the main stage.
In both sets of X posts, the accounts accompanied the birds-eye-view image with a group picture of Ford accompanied with his ministers in dark blue “Team Ontario” shirts. In Smith’s post, there was a group picture of his political staff in blue shirts.
On Friday, the premier took to the main stage at about 6:30 p.m. but the crowd started to form an hour before that, largely taken up by OPSEU protesters in purple shirts.
Smith introduced Ford in a warm-up speech to try and get the crowd hyped up, but not before he himself was also booed and yelled at by protesters who drowned him out at times.
“Make some noise! … Now are you ready? Are you ready?!” Smith said, volume raised, before he introduced Ford as “someone who don’t need an introduction.”
President of OPSEU JP Hornick told the Star they came to Ford Fest to bring attention to the thousands of community, health and social service workers who have been on strike for several weeks now.
“This is a sector where the funding has been suffocated by this government,” Hornick said. “If they can spend (nearly) $30 million on a private jet that benefits one man, I don’t see why they can’t spend the $80 million that’s necessary that would serve hundreds of thousands of Ontarians.”
