Premier Doug Ford is shedding more light on the apparent rift between the federal and provincial conservatives following a disappointing loss for the tories in the federal election.
Making an announcement about tough-on-crime measures his government is bringing forward, Ford was asked Wednesday why it is that he didn’t jointly make such points with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during the campaign when the federal party was campaigning on the issue.
“I shouldn’t interfere in the federal election,” Ford said at first.
However he quickly added more to his answer.
“Last time I checked, Pierre Poilievre never came out in our election. Matter of fact, him or one of his lieutenants told every one of his members, ‘don’t you dare go out and help the PCs.’ Isn’t that ironic,” Ford said.
“But anyways, I’m not going to dig deep into this. The people spoke, and I have no say in who people vote for.”
Just two months ago, Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party won a third straight majority government.
The federal Conservative Party, meanwhile, came up short in this week’s national election. While the party made gains over the last federal election, it wasn’t enough to form government and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre lost his own seat in the Ottawa area.
The Conservatives were hoping to pick up seats in Ontario, especially in the vote-rich GTA. But despite his strong popularity, Ford did not endorse Poilievre or campaign for the federal party.
In fact, his own campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, publicly criticized the Conservative campaign during the election, saying they had blown a massive lead by failing to adjust their messaging to the tariff threat.
Still, some members of the provincial PC caucus did campaign on behalf of the federal Conservative party, including Ontario Minister of Francophone Affairs and Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney.
Following the Conservatives’ election night loss Monday, Durham-area MP and onetime Ford adviser Jamil Jivani called the premier a “hype man” for the Liberals during an interview with the CBC, putting some of the blame for their loss at his feet.
Jivani doubled down on his criticism of Ford Wednesday, posting a doctored image of the premier as a wrestler, ripping off a PC vest to reveal a red Liberal shirt underneath.
In his comments, Ford said the Liberals were democratically elected and that he plans to hold them to account, just as he would any party that was elected federally.
“My interest is protecting the people of Ontario, and I will be all over this government. They know I will be as I was before about being tough on crime,” Ford said.
Asked further about the “bad blood” there appears to be between the federal and provincial parties, and what would need to happen to heal the rift, Ford said “all they have to do is make a phone call.”
“I like a lot of the MPs, but the people spoke, and they spoke loud and clear,” he said. “They spoke loud and clear in our election; they spoke loud and clear on the federal election. And so that’s democracy. They elect who they want.”
