Doug Ford is not a shy man, not at all. So why is he running a stealth campaign to be Ontario’s next premier?

He’s hiding from the media and refusing to have the traditional media bus attached to his campaign. He was shockingly rude in turning down an invitation to join the Black community debate that will be attended by the other candidates. “I love them, they love me,” he said, which is the kind of tone-deaf all-Blacks-are-alike assumption that riles people.

Having had a total of 240 Black kids visit his cottage for jet-skiing and fishing, as Ford boasts, does not a bloc vote make. We know that. How odd that he doesn’t.

Of course Ford’s shrinking-violet act — very Stephen Harperish by the way — may not be his choice. His handlers may be concealing him out of strategy, as in “the more you know of him, the less likely you’ll vote for him.” It could work. We’ll wait to see if he comes out of Kawarthas butter tart festivals with a jacket over his head while being hustled to a waiting vehicle. Doug Ford, international man of mystery.

What this voter expects is hourly information about Liberal, NDP, Green and “Regressive” Conservative candidates from now to June 7. That’s how you change voters’ minds. Why leave the other parties to persuade while Ford coasts only on his dodgy reputation.

Shy Ford should not be smug about his lead. We have learned that the most amazing things can happen in a week, a day, an afternoon. A charm offensive, if he’s able, might cement his good polling numbers.

We still haven’t seen Ford’s platform which is still very “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” Ford may not realize that the spending in Premier Wynne’s recent budget made large groups of people very happy indeed: seniors, anyone with teeth, early childhood educators, families coping with disability, teachers, families needing free child care, and older people who need help shovelling their driveways and replacing ceiling lightbulbs.

They’re like the Black community, not a monolith, but a variety of citizens all over Ontario. Will Ford reverse Wynne’s spending plans? He has a duty to say so. Will he see the Liberal budget as a game of Pick-up Sticks, delicately removing Wynne items one stick at a time?

Doug Ford visited the Ontario legislature on March 12 for the first time since becoming leader of the province’s Progressive Conservatives. Ford says he plans to be “out on the road” as much as possible before the June 7 election. (The Canadian Press)

Ford is happy to see himself as a caricature because he thinks most voters like the caricature they see. Therefore he need not get his message out.

As the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn wrote recently, Ford’s greatest asset is the most distressing one possible. Like Trump deploring Mexicans, women, and immigrants, “Ford wins credit for saying what some people are thinking — but think better of saying.”

It is a damning statement. We all have unexpressed unattractive thoughts, right now mostly about Mark Zuckerberg. I have a technique to deal with their appearance in my brain. “Thought is free,” I tell myself. And then I say “compassion,” which calms me. Don’t say I never taught you anything.

The problem with unexpressed thoughts is that when they burst into sight, they look like cane toads, big, warty and poisonous. You can find them on the CBC website where, despite the CBC’s efforts, commenters remain anonymous, venomous, obsessive, misogynist and racist. Your mother would not be happy with the toxins you’re excreting, dear Angry Pyjamas, lonely cowboys wielding the lasso of truth in their basements.

I don’t doubt there is a good side to Doug Ford. He does seem jolly enough. So why doesn’t he display his talents? Saving the province billions with better procurement, that sounds good. So tell us exactly how that would be done.

He won’t because the means don’t exist. He’d have to cut the education budget. Oklahoma did that and look at them now: teachers, paid less than a waitress in a doughnut shop, have gone on strike, and nobody kan spel.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

I suspect a Premier Ford would not fund things like the Toronto relief line, even though suburban commuters heading downtown need it as much as urban schlubs do.

I may be wrong. Please tell me if I am. Is that too much for a voter to ask?

hmallick@thestar.ca

Read more about: