In a classic case of damage control Sunday, PC Leader Doug Ford was telling anyone who would listen that he really, really likes immigrants and that immigrants like him.
It sounds very much like Ford’s assertion that he really supports families living with autism, even though he tried to shut down a home for autistic youth in his Etobicoke ward when he was a city councillor.
The latest backtracking comes on the heels of his comments at a leaders’ debate in northern Ontario on Friday.
When asked about instituting an incentive program to attract skilled immigrants to the north, Ford said he might consider it, but, as he stated, “we have to look after our people first.”
Just who are “our people?”
Ford’s comment not only plays into the hateful and erroneous theory that immigrants are taking jobs away from “his people,” but it also runs contrary to the desire that many northern Ontario politicians have advocated for, namely to attract more skilled immigrants to fill jobs in northern communities.
It seems that every time that Ford strays from the talking points that his handlers have written for him, he puts his foot in his mouth with outrageous and often inaccurate statements.
His tenuous grasp of the issues facing Ontario is concerning. What’s more concerning is that for many voters, it doesn’t seem to matter.
Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News
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