Notwithstanding that he had a busy day, Premier Doug Ford said he not only saw the picture, but he gets it too.

But with this picture on social media of Mayor John Tory and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ford had just one comment.

“Hopefully they were talking about jobs and not worrying about saving politician jobs,” the premier said Tuesday morning. “I hope they were talking about the free trade agreement.”

Upbeat and happy, clearly the premier has no regrets about the eventful Monday he was at the centre of. The rules are there for him to use, and when a judge uses the Charter to knock down an elected government’s decision that falls within their purview, he has every right to use the clause he did.

But clearly Tory did not like it and ran to the prime minister for help. Tory told Newstalk 1010 Tuesday that, among other things, they did discuss the premier’s intended use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to veto a judge’s ruling that shot down the Progressive Conservative government’s plan to reduce the number of Toronto councillors from 47 to 25.

Thanks to Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau for meeting with me tonight to talk about my concerns around the province's use of the notwithstanding clause. I appreciate his support for democratic principles, democratic institutions, and the importance of respecting cities. pic.twitter.com/1y5FDRsaBj — John Tory (@TorontosMayor) September 10, 2018

Tory said he will let Trudeau speak for himself on it and he suspects that since it’s in the “national” interest, he very well may. Ford said whatever politicians have to say about what transpired Monday, the focus should not be about “saving NDP politicians’ jobs” but instead about “creating jobs.”

The premier said that is exactly what his focus is on. It starts, he said, Tuesday morning with a tour of the Honda Plant in Alliston, which he said is the example of the kind of business that leaders should be doing.

“We are going to reduce hydro rates and regulations to give companies a competitive advantage,” said Ford, while going through a Tim Hortons drive-thru to get his morning coffee. I could hear people in the background offering him support.

But the premier said that for all the people telling him he’s on the right track, he was flooded with calls and texts on his personal cellphone thanks to a lawyer who tweeted out his phone number. It said it won’t deter him from bringing back the legislature and seeing through his original intentions.

“Left-wing crackerjacks,” he said with a laugh of all the calls he received. “I think it was about 400 or 500 calls on my cellphone. I had to turn it off.”

But, he said, when he walks around in public the reaction is ten times more positive. People want a more efficient council with a view to tackle things like crime, housing and public transit.

As for the loud push-back, he said he gets the picture.

“It’s just the left-wing agenda.”

They are worried about their jobs. The premier said he’s more concerned about regular people’s jobs.

jwarmington@postmedia.com