nobody thinks an ouster is imminent, and everyone acknowledges things may change after the vaccination campaign. but ford is in a political crisis of his own making, raising questions about his longer-term political future.
one well-connected ontario progressive conservative party source said they find it hard to see the caucus turning on ford before the next provincial election, scheduled for june 2022. “i hear people talking about it, but i don’t think it’s a real threat,” the source said. “mind you, if there was one party that was willing to do it, it would be this one. we got rid of patrick brown, what, a few months before the election?”
“what drives people is whether they can win,” said a second party source who was more critical of ford. “this is a caucus that took out patrick (brown)…if these caucus members start to get a sense from party members, voters, supporters, businesses in the ridings, that they’re screwed, i don’t care how much loyalty right now they profess to have for any leader, for doug or whoever. it will be thrown out the window.”
to put it in context, consider the events of the past week.
on friday, apr. 16, the province’s science advisory table released modelling showing ontario could hit a staggering 30,000 cases a day if more wasn’t done to stop the spread.