"Customer Service" - The political philosophy of Doug Ford:
Doug Ford is not known for his philosophical inclinations. Nor is the Ford Government noted for a high-minded theoretical approach to governing. Yet, Mr Ford does have a governing philosophy, one that he has laid out succinctly in two words:
“Customer service.”
It has been a typical week in Ontario politics. The government suddenly cancelled its plan to disband Peel Region, something it had previously seemed hell-bent on. Later in the week, Premier Ford announced alcohol will soon be available in convenience stores. Neither is a surprise. After all, Mr Ford previously promised Ontarians cheap ‘buck a beer.’ And speaking of alcohol, you could create a drinking game: take a shot whenever you hear the words “The Ford Government reversed its policy….”
You never quite know where the Ford government is going. It backed down on its plan to open up much of the Greenbelt for private developers, plans that we now know were sometimes virtually dictated by the developers themselves. Last summer Mr Ford promised to fix his own government’s questionable process bringing back King’s Counsel appointments.
And it just goes on. Check out this ongoing CBC list of great moments in “Ford government backtracks…” And most of all, Doug Ford apologizes. He regularly says sorry and expresses regret for things that go wrong, sometimes even tearing up.
Compare this with the Harris government of the 1990s. Did the Harris government back down? Heck, no. The entire Harris brand was built on keeping promises and following through. It was a bulldozer government that created havoc and nasty polarization, but gosh, it was predictable. And there were no apologies.
What explains the very different, lurching Ford government? “Customer service.”
In his 2016 book Ford Nation, Doug Ford repeatedly identifies “customer service” as the core of the Ford philosophy. Whether in the family business Deco Labels, or in the political careers of Doug Sr, Rob, and Doug Jr, “customer service” is what it’s all about.
Both Rob and Doug certainly followed customer service principles on an immediate personal level. Doug writes “Return every single phone call or, better yet, show up at the caller’s door.” The tendency of both brothers to give out their personal phone numbers and to take and return individual citizen calls is well documented, along with indeed showing up unexpectedly at their homes. Who can forget the premier early in the pandemic driving his own truck to pick up a load of masks? Or his visit to the home of an eight-year-old boy named Arthur who had written to propose outdoor graduation ceremonies?
The Ford view of politics is retail and individual, not systemic or ideological. Doug Ford is no libertarian, and he hid during the trucker convoy. But neither is he very interested in the complexities of public policy. Instead, as much as possible he views issues through ‘customer service.’ Ensuring we can pick up beer at 7-11 is a pretty obvious example. But ‘customer service” goes well beyond that.
Take for example the government’s approach to postsecondary education. Back in 2019 it surprised everyone by not cutting government grants to colleges and universities. Instead, Mr Ford froze tuition, and it’s still frozen (as are the grants.) Is this a plan to starve public institutions and punish wooly-headed lefty professors? Not exactly. Tuition is a price, and the Ford government is saving students/customers money by holding down prices.
Many other Ford government twists are examples of ‘customer service.’ Mr Ford shows no interest in the social conservative religious agenda. Yet he greased the way for Charles McVety’s Canada Christian College to receive university status. Why? The shortest and best answer is that McVety, after building up as much political power and connections with Ford as possible, asked, and Mr Ford tried to satisfy the customer.
Of course the most valued customers of the Ford Retail Emporium are private businesses. This is why developers found an open door, and even in the pandemic many government exemptions were directly tied to business lobbying. Yet when things are exposed and the government’s hand is caught in the cookie jar, it often backtracks; because it knows voters are the ultimate customers.
When Rob Ford was mayor of Toronto, he pushed endlessly for more subways, ahead of other public transit options. “Subways, subways, subways” was his mantra. Why would someone so allegedly concerned about taxpayer dollars want the most expensive, complicated option? Simple. Subways provide the best customer experience. Dollars be damned; customer service comes first.
Doug Ford is the same. And “customer service” does mean that Doug Ford is willing to change his mind, if the customer - er, voter - backlash is strong enough. Admittedly, not everything in Mr Ford’s world is fully explainable through this mantra. But it’s at the core, and he’s never hid it.
Postscript: Many of the above ideas and my original reading of Ford Nation came to me when I was asked to write a comparison of the Ford and Kenney governments for the brilliant book Blue Storm: The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney.
Post-postscript: This is a great time to remind readers that the second edition of The Politics of Ontario, edited by Cheryl Collier and myself, is coming out next year. With lots of Doug Ford content!