Premier Doug Ford has taken to social media to show off his pumpkin carving abilities, as his government gets set to table controversial legislation which would impose a contract on school support staff.

In a two-and-a-half minute video posted to Twitter on Monday morning Ford is seen carving a pumpkin and reflecting on some of his favourite Halloween traditions.

“Always be careful with these knives,” he warns as he cuts out a hole in the top of the pumpkin. “You gotta make it scary.”

In the video the premier remarks that there were always “pumpkin carving contests” at his house growing up and that he continued the tradition on with his four daughters.

Then instead of scooping the seeds out, the premier proceeds to use his bare hand to remove them.

“My favourite thing to do is to get your hands in all this gunky stuff here and then separate the seeds, put them on a pan, put some salt all over them and put them in the oven. Then you are going to have some great pumpkin seeds,” Ford says.

In the video, Ford lists ‘Halloween’ and ‘Friday the 13th’ as among his favourite scary movies.

He wraps up the video by showing off his completed pumpkin and holding it up to his face.

The pumpkin includes crooked teeth and two bulging eyeballs that Ford stuck to its exterior.

“Full disclosure I am not a pumpkin carver. But here we go. I think there is kind of a resemblance,” he says.

The release of Ford’s pumpkin carving video comes as tensions continue to build between his government and a CUPE local representing approximately 55,000 school support staff.

On Sunday the union provided five days notice that it plans to strike, however the Ford government promptly announced that it would be tabling back-to-work legislation in an attempt to ensure children can remain in school.

CUPE represents school support staff, including custodians, librarians and early childhood educators.