Ontario Premier Doug Ford lambasted the news media as “far-left” to a friendly crowd at the Manning Centre Conference on Saturday.

“I get along with them one-on-one, I really do,” Ford said at the Ottawa conference. “But it’s like the cheese slipped off the cracker with these guys and they just went far-left.”

Ford was responding to a question as part of a question-and-answer with Global News’ Danielle Smith. Smith is a former Alberta MLA for the Wildrose Party and later Progressive Conservative Party after she crossed the floor in 2014.

Ford explained that what he perceives as media bias is the reason that his government employs its “Ontario News Now” partisan video-arm.

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“Now there’s social media so we’re circumventing the media through our social media and we have ONN – Ontario News Now,” Ford said.

He said it “drove the media crazy” during the election. At that time, the Ford campaign made advertisements under the moniker of “Ford Nation Live.”

“They want to take what you said and flip and chop and twist it around, but we went directly to the people,” Ford said.

Ford said during the campaign that “Ford Nation Live” had 18 million hits for its “30 second” clips, which he claimed was more than all of the major networks combined.

A spokesperson for Ford later clarified to iPolitics that the premier meant the 18 million hits they received online were more than all of the major media outlets were able to draw, according to data that was provided to the campaign.

Ford’s bashing of the media came in response to a question from Smith about the similarities between the coverage that he and United States President Donald Trump receive.

“I would say he gets 99 per cent negative media coverage, on balance I would say you get more negative than positive. Why do you think that is?” Smith asked the premier.

“That’s just the media, no matter if it’s in the U.S. or here, they’re far-left,” Ford said.

Ford pivoted from an earlier question about countering increasing polarization that’s been observed in Canada and the U.S. to praising Trump’s efforts to lower corporate taxes and reduce government regulations.

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