Ford's betrayal will live long in the memory

On a man who wouldn't call off his "goons."

There are the scapegoats we expected following Monday’s disappointing result for Canada’s future generations -- that appear destined to strain the ties that bind its very confederation -- and then there are the ones many never saw coming.

The available Liberal ‘boomer vote,’ as was feared, overwhelmingly prioritized Trump, tossing “making housing more affordable,” “growing the economy,” and “making Canada a better place to live” down the ballot, to downright comical effect.

The complete collapse of the NDP ended up being so profound the party lost official party status; yet in the cruelest of twists for everyday Canadians, they now hold the balance in another potential coalition. In failing so spectacularly and dutifully, the Conservatives’ record growth -- and the party’s best voter share since the Mulroney landslide in 1988 – was rendered all but inert.

Flood-the-ballot skullduggery, sign bashings, a dubiously high turnout, and mass resources poured into Poilievre’s riding cost the Conservative leader his seat, who will now have to wait as long as six months for a byelection window before re-entering the House to launch his trademark assaults on the Liberal record.

In the end, and quite remarkably, the Conservatives, even with the worst of timing, the dumbest of luck, and beset by the most malicious acts of foreign interference, found themselves up against a coalition of the Canadian left, Beijing proxies, Donald Trump, an army of angry and misguided seniors, and still managed to grow their vote, refurbish and rejuvenate their base, and hold off an official majority.

But what millions weren’t counting on in the final weeks – not that they weren’t warned, repeatedly – was Ontario’s ‘Progressive Conservative’ premier, Doug Ford, joining that Carney coalition, and working to sabotage a change election ten years in the making.

Popular Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, during the CBC’s federal election coverage, tore into Ontario Premier Doug Ford for rubbing shoulders with the federal Liberals, and aiding in apparent interference efforts, rather than taking part in the big blue tent effort.

“He’s trying to exercise his influence over other levels of government — and it’s not like this guy’s doing anything particularly well,” said Jivani.

“He’s got his goons around him all the time . . . He has taken the provincial Conservative party and turned it into something hollow, unprincipled, something that doesn't solve problems.”

"He's glad-handing with Chrystia Freeland, having coffees and lattes with Mark Carney, and I'm sitting here saying we need to be fighting for change in something new and something different — not being a hype man to the Liberal party."

Both behind the scenes -- and not so subtlety placed in the legacy press in the weeks leading up to election day -- Ford’s inner circle of loyalists and strategists, still fuming from a perceived slight from the Poilievre camp and key strategist Jenni Byrne (who would not entertain allowing their presence in the federal war-room, and who quietly ignored Ford’s unnecessary, low-turnout shotgun election that focused on Trump and only Trump), worked tirelessly to plant stories in media and distract from strong Conservative days on the campaign trail.

Those “goons,” mainly made up of insiders like Rubicon Strategies’ Kory Teneycke, and regional fixers, became daily fixtures as so-called anonymous sources, and, instead of waiting the requisite weeks to duel it out over the campaign post-mortem, had their knives out from the very writ drop.

Jivani’s criticisms and frustrations, sources can confirm, are shared widely inside the conservative movement. Be they MPs, MPPs inside Queen’s Park, campaigners from west to east, even former leaders, prominent cabinet members, and PMs, an overwhelming majority are furious with the actions of the Ford few, who, it is believed, may have ended up influencing a handful of seats by final tally.

Had the two teams gotten on the same page, had one team not donned another coat entirely by going public and staying public, there is a very distinct possibility, at the very least, the Conservatives would have held the balance of power in opposition with the Bloc Quebecois.

Instead, Western Independence sentiment will only grow. An entire generation remains locked out of the housing market – perhaps forever. Dire changes to immigration, criminal justice reform, and the need to build any pipelines or meaningful energy projects are now at risk of cancellation, or three-to-four more years of delay.

And all because a Conservative in name only wouldn’t call off his goons.

In the weeks and months to come, when the temperature rises, frustrations grow, and Carney’s approval starts going the way of Keir Starmer’s, conservatives would be wise to remember who helped put him there.

It wasn’t just the boomers. It wasn’t just Trump – and his threats. It wasn’t just the unprecedented collapse of the NDP.

It was a fat man in a blue suit, flanked by consultants you wouldn’t trust to run a lemonade stand, gazing out upon the lawn of Queen’s Park, where Sir John A. Macdonald still sits boarded up, but for no reason other than their cowardice and their pathological need to be liked by their political opponents.

And now, those supposed opponents are the only friends they have left.

Alexander Brown is a writer, third-party director, and part-time politico.

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A version of this column is running in the Western Standard.