Doug Ford is no Mike Harris. There are similarities of course. Both dislike public education and public services of all types. Both wear a suit the way a sausage wears a casing. Both believe that there is no answer too simple for a complex question. Both believe that the world is a better place from inside a van, preferably one with a big screen TV, protected by the OPP. With that said, people should take comfort that Ford is not Harris.
Ford is a snake oil salesmen (with all due respect to the snake oil industry) who took over a fractured party through slander and trickery, taking advantage of a sex scandal involving that beige suit of a man, Patrick Brown. The contrast to Harris here is important. Harris owned his party. Ford stole his. Harris never feared about loyalty; after all, his Tories would always dance with the one who brought them. But Doug, Doug cannot trust his gang. Can there be any better proof of this than Doug forcing his stolen seals to clap on cue? He is a man so insecure that he sees a threat in Randy Hillier, a man whose greatest claim to fame is pulling his own tractor.
Ford is largely hated by his caucus; they look at him the way you look at your Uncle when he shows up unannounced. They support him in a Joe Pesce Good Fellas way; twitchy, very twitchy. Ford won the leadership on the strength of people who think the cancerous rays of wind turbines can seep through their tinfoil hats. He won because he courted the vote of devout home schooled virgins. Not that being a devout home schooled virgin is a bad thing, but it just might not qualify you to be the next Minister of Education once this barely educated one is fired.
Harris earned his reputation as a person any amount of money could buy. Harris was not born to the manor of corruption, unlike Ford, he worked for his entrance into that big house. Whether it was selling the 407 for a current trip between Hamilton and Oakville or being Frank Stronach's personal chute greaser, Harris worked hard to feather his own nest and ensure that he and his friends and family would be the most alright of all the Jacks. Ford had that type of largesse bestowed upon him. After being born on third base, Doug doesn't have the interest to run for home. He's in it for the revenge, not the ideology.
Unlike Harris, Doug has made mistakes early in his first big war with teachers. Where Harris was calculating, Dougie lets personal feelings interfere. His battle against the parents of autistic children is a revenge hit. Harris never attacked a student, preferring to portray them as perpetual victims, no less insulting than Ford's approach but much more effective. Harris softened the ground for months with a marching barrage of commercials and rallied his base to go after the very people who helped raise their kids. Ford stumbled into the first battle in this round by taking student cell phones away.
There is hope here for teachers, students, in fact all citizens. Ford is no Harris. Ford is a hit and run con and makes for a much easier opponent. All we have to do is hold our ground and wait for the wheels to inevitably fall off his fat ass van.
