When Doug Ford returned to his park in Queens It was not what I expected on a Monday afternoon. I'm not talking about mobile billboards paid for by education workers going around parliament and denouncing him. What he lost on day one was the vote.
His two MPs from the Progressive Conservative Party were gunning for the Speaker of the House, but one of them, whom Ford had backed, was lost, leaving Prime Minister blushed.
Ted Arnott had chaired the previous session and had sought re-election, but was not a favorite of Ford or those around him. Nina Tangri — the junior minister who told Ford after the June election that she did not want to join the cabinet — also wanted the position.
Officially, Ford and his team were neutral. , was actually in favor of Tangri. Senior staff called the MPP to let them know who the prime minister wanted, and the issue was also raised at the caucuses.
Ford's PC controls 83 of his 124 seats in Congress, with the opposition holding a combined 41 seats. Even if the few members of the PC caucus are not on the floor, the opposition needs about 20 of his PC MPPs to vote with them.
To do so would be nothing less than an act of defiance against the Prime Minister. Thankfully, it was a secret ballot for the rebels.
"I look forward to working with all members of the House on all sides as we move forward," Arnott said surprised after the vote. Principles and Ted has been a good public speaker in the past and he will continue to be," said a disappointed Tangli.
Had she been elected, Trangli would have been the first female Speaker of the Ontario Legislature and the first woman of color to hold that office. Normally that would line up the NDP to endorse a candidate, but not this time. Ford said he tried to bully Tangri.
"We looked at a few things," Tubbs explains of his NDP's voting process.
“One is that we were threatened before the vote. We do not accept being threatened. I am," he said. "And secondly, I felt that Ted had a very strong history of being fair and that record should be respected."
PC House leader Paul Calandra denied posing a threat to the NDP if it did not support Tangri, but it is clear that Calandra was pushing Tangri on Ford's orders.
In other words, the NDP typically complained about older white men oppressing women of color and voted for older white men instead of women of color. is.
Tubbs doesn't think the characterization is fair. He said the Tories are spinning that line, but he backed Arnott over women four years ago.
Of course, irony is second to none.
Still, it's nothing compared to Ford's loss of the vote. Do people care? People who watch politics a lot might be, but other people don't know what speakers are.
This influence would be more internal to the Conservative Party in Queens Park. The PC caucuses did not respond to the leader's bid just two months after he won a larger majority than he did in 2018. It also angered Ford, causing some around him to You will be curious, if not delusional, about the identity of the "traitor."
It was an interesting start to a new session at Queen's Park.
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