Dean Wormer's Revenge: The Doug Ford Thread

When Rob Ford was going through his crack ordeal, I would tell everyone I knew that his brother Doug seemed like a much bigger creep to me. Rob was obviously unfit to serve in elected office, but I felt like I could at least detect the outline of a likable Chris Farley-type in there. His brother, besides all the lying he did through that episode, struck me as genuinely vicious. Never in a million years did I expect he'd end up as Ontario's premier.

I'll leave it to other Canadian posters to detail what he's already dismantled in terms of the environment. He's also cut Toronto's city council in half because a) we didn't vote for him, and b) he resented that Toronto media was all over his brother (including the current mayor, John Tory, on the talk show he did at the time).

Most immediate to me is that he's obviously going to fuck over teachers in every way he can (sometimes, it's just a case of him saying up if we say down). So far:

1) cancelled a proposed overhaul of the Social Studies curriculum that was going to have a First Nations emphasis at every grade level;
2) erased changes to the health curriculum brought in a few years ago, taking it back to an earlier version that didn't deal with things like sexting, gender and sexuality issues, etc.
3) set up a website where parents (and students, although this evidently never occurred to him) can anonymously report teachers who don't adhere to the above changes
4) cancelled $100 million in school renovations
5) wants to return math to an emphasis on rote memorization

I think that's it so far, but he's only been in office for a few months. At some point, I expect he'll get involved in things like planning time, sick days, maternity leave, etc.--he'll take this as far as he's able to.

Part of the reason is, again, I doubt he got much support from teachers in the election. (I don't know--that's tricky, because Wynne was really unpopular with teachers too.) I wish some newspaper would dig up his old high school transcripts, because I think you'd find a second reason there. I'm going to take a wild guess that he wasn't the greatest student in the world; I'd be surprised if he wasn't basically C's across the board.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/brother.jpg

“I think the world of teachers. We have some of the greatest teachers in the world right here in Ontario.”

Everything's all better now.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/08/29/doug-ford-turns-down-heat-over-sex-ed-snitch-line.html

How could I forget "buck a beer"? We were in the middle of a major beer crisis in Ontario, our worst beer crisis in decades, people just weren't drinking enough beer, so he stepped in and took swift and decisive action. Even if 99% of the province's brewers ignored him.

The city and the province were in court today. Love this quote from Ford's side:

The province, which took up most of the afternoon defending the legislation, argued all of those claims should be dismissed because the city is simply a creature of the province that is not afforded constitutional status and that effective representation — a concept outlined by the Supreme Court — is not a “constitutionally entrenched right” but simply a “policy choice.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/toronto-election/2018/08/31/court-hearing-challenge-today-over-toronto-council-cuts.html

We're taking him to court:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-teachers-union-goes-to-court-to-fight-repeal-of-sex-ed/

Doubt we'll win, but the more distraction, the better--he's fighting three or four different cases right now. Ground him down to a halt.

Overturned!

#BREAKING: Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba has shut down the Ford government's decision to cut the size of Toronto city council. Oct. 22 election will proceed with 47 wards, Belobaba has ruled.

— CP24 (@CP24) September 10, 2018

Big surprise: he's going to use something called the "notwithstanding clause" and completely ignore the ruling.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/judge-ruling-city-council-bill-election-1.4816664

I believe the exact translation in this instance is "Notwithstanding that I'm an idiot, we're still going to do it my way."

This guy has such a hate-on for teachers.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-ontario-school-boards-hiring-freeze-budget-1.5038662

So glad I'm getting out. We've had like 13 sick leaves in our school this year (including at least three stress-related), even though we have a really small staff. If class sizes go up, and there are more splits next year, it'll be chaos.

Really wish someone would dig up his grades in high school. I bet they explain a lot.

I c/p-ed this to the Canadian Politics thread and replied there.

I'm just catching up with this now.

http://cfsontario.ca/2019/02/12/students-reaffirm-demand-for-reversal-of-student-choice-initiative-following-dishonest-pc-fundraising-email/

It came to me via a Facebook post from CIUT, the campus station where I did a show in the late-'80s. I take it this will eventually kill the station, plus a whole bunch of other services and organizations that depend on fees.

I guess his vendetta against education covers K-university.

1) http://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/04/04/ontario-government-to-cut-over-10000-teaching-positions-provincial-memos-say.html

2) http://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/news/ontario-government-wants-to-make-all-teachers-take-mandatory-math-tests-every-year

I'll wait for clarification ("cut" vs. "phased out," etc.) before saying much--obviously, you'd want someone teaching math to be able to pass a grade 6-level math test--but I had to laugh when the Education Minister was asked if she'd be willing to take the same test herself, and instead of a simple "Sure, no problem," she actually prevaricated and deflected.

I more or less despise Ford as much as he despises teachers.

If I were a person of principle I'd m*rd*r him tbh. This is a disaster.

I'll admit to some selfishness here: even though I retire in June, I'm hoping to supply for a year, and I'm starting to think enough job cuts will move enough teachers back into the supply pool that that won't happen.

He's very busy today.

http://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/04/04/exclusive-changes-proposed-to-ohip-coverage/

How many times did he promise--sincerely, adamantly, heart-and-soulfully--that increased class sizes wouldn't mean a single job lost? Pretty much every day, and as recently as three or four weeks ago. My board let 193 high school teachers go today; I don't know how many elementary were declared excess, but my own school lost one for sure, a really good grade 8 teacher who used to play minor league hockey alongside Tavares and P.K. Subban.

This is what happens when you've got a spoiled, vindictive rich fuck/Bluto Blutarsky/former drug-dealer in charge who was too stupid to last a third month in college.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ontario-library-service-funding-pc-doug-ford-1.5102406

http://shorttakes.canadianmusician.com/ford-government-budget-slashes-ontario-music-fund-by-more-than-half/

I like music. I like books.

IMPORTANT SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We regret to inform you that due to recent provincial budget cuts, all interlibrary loan service in Ontario has been discontinued effective immediately. All interlibrary loan materials are being recalled, and no new requests will be accepted.

— Orillia Library (@orillialibrary) April 19, 2019

Picked up an inter-branch loan today; North Toronto seems to have a stranglehold on the most interesting DVDs, so I had Eight Hours Don't Make a Day shipped to my branch. I guess it's only city to city that's affected (something I did use once).

all interlibrary loan service in Ontario has been discontinued effective immediately.

don't often get physically angry over sentences on the internet that aren't even about my country but

I don't think "interlibrary loans" refers to inter-branch loans. But yeah, this is all infuriating.

Do people think Ford needs his own thread or should we keep it to Canadian Politics? I'm with two threads if people see a reason for it.

I only bumped this one cause it was the only one I could reach on the Android app at the time, but I don't mind having a place specifically for anti-Ford venting

*I'm fine

The whole sex ed curriculum thing is hilarious. And expensive.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/08/21/premier-doug-ford-governments-sex-ed-changes-blasted-by-former-pc-leadership-candidate.html

Do parents have any idea that at least half the teachers who handle health--at least anyone up to grade 6--cover the "Human Development and Sexual Health" component of the curriculum in one or two lessons? All this fighting is over approximately 80 minutes of class time.

School support staff strike averted. Surprised--I thought they'd take the political hit (what difference does it make if your approval rating is 35% or 25%?) and go for the savings.