As the RCMP criminal investigation surrounding the Greenbelt scandal drags on, Premier Doug Ford is feeling like he just might be untouchable. Emboldened by a combined sense of invincibility and righteousness, Ford is getting sloppy. Most of his initiatives are not  evidence-based, and he is unabashed when he says he is governing by gut instinct.

Recently, the auditor general revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars were given to friends and supporters of the party through a jobs training slush fund with no regard for facts or transparency; it’s reminiscent of so many other files handled similarly. 

Untold millions are being spent on Highway 413 and the Bradford bypass when expert analysis reveals this will not ease congestion. Only a couple of minutes of commuting time will be saved by those coming and going from the 905 region.

The Ontario Science Centre was shuttered suddenly when facility consultants reported it could be easily fixed. 

Select and disconnected parcels of the Greenbelt were declared available for development with no viable plan for the infrastructure needed to support that development. There was also no evidence of a plan outlining how this would solve the housing crisis.

The premier is just about all on his onesie in thinking that building a tunnel under Highway 401 is a good idea; and yet, he is steam rolling ahead. 

Ford has just introduced legislation to ban municipalities from using speed cameras because he says, “enough is enough.” Enough of what Doug? Safety in school zones? 

He introduced legislation to remove bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and Avenue Road. Removing bike lanes would not ease congestion and would likely increase it, and the safety consequences for all road users would be negative. But that advice disagrees with Ford’s gut apparently.

Now it has been revealed by the province’s auditor general (AG), Shelly Spence, that the Ford government has been doling out $237 million to groups that endorsed the Conservatives in the last election. This was part of the government’s Skills Development Fund. She said there was no transparency in deciding who got the money, but she was able to determine that medium- and low-ranked applications from government supporters were successful.

Of the 20 unions and groups who endorsed the Conservatives in the last election, 17 were successful in securing grant funds; however, the province has refused to release the scoring system used to award the funds making it next to impossible to know if decisions were based on merit or influence. 

One firm, Rubicon Strategy, led by Ford’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, claims on its website that it “has successfully secured millions in training dollars.” According to The Trillium, Teneycke’s firm has nine clients who received funding in this round. One of those clients is Sal-Dan General Contractors who received $3 million. Sal-Dan’s owner, Salvatore Biasicci, his wife, and his son, donated $50,000 to the party between 2017 and 2025. That’s a pretty good return on investment if party donations were the government’s driving metric. 

The AG notes that these decisions are being made by political staff, not civil servants. This is not the case in Alberta or British Columbia. She also found that in at least five cases, political staff provided “inaccurate” explanations as to why they made their decisions which she found “troubling.”  

The Ford government is making no effort to justify rewarding their supporters with preferred access to slush funds. The most alarming part is they feel no need to justify their decisions with facts; there is no pretense whatsoever that their decisions are evidence-based. It’s an arrogant and entitled approach to governing that has run its course.

READ MORE EDITORIALS:

• EDITORIAL: Pierre is in a political pickle (Sept. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Fact over fiction: Ford’s Bill 212 fails on its merits (Aug. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: No experience necessary managing a school board (July 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bill 5 recklessly endangers Ontario (May/June 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Thou shalt not park in a bike lane (Apr. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bike lane facts Ford knew (Mar. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Poilievre’s perfect storm (Feb. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: An election designed to distract voters (Jan. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bill 212 causes congestion (Dec. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Fact-checking Ford (Oct./Nov. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: An injection of ignorance (Sept. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Road safety for some, sometimes (Summer 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s boozy billion-dollar blunder (June 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford needs to step up and lead for once (May 2024)
• EDITORIAL: The Vacant Home Tax: A multi-mayor failure (Apr. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford‘s actions “reflect a juvenile understanding of the role of the judiciary” (Mar. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: The “Get it Done Act” should get Ford out (Feb. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: AG confirms Ford rigged Science Centre analysis (Dec. 2023)
• EDITORIAL: An insincere mea culpa (Fall 2023)
• EDITORIAL: Ford exploits housing crisis (Summer 2023)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s poor planning will hurt us all (May/June 2023)
• EDITORIAL: Bleed it and then blame it for dying (April 2023)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s budget is a fail (Mar. 2023)
• EDITORIAL: Freedom Ford-style (Feb. 2023)
• EDITORIAL: We care Mr. Tory (Jan. 2023)