‘Go find a job’
The Premier of the Province is, to put it in the most polite terms I can muster at this time, a festering pustule on the face of Ontario. There are numerous controversies and reprehensible political stances, but this entry won’t explicitly cover those items. The alleged corruption, cronyism, and graft is sufficient enough, once hopefully proven in a court of law, to call for not only his removal as Premier, but, all fingers crossed as hard as possible, result in his incarceration.
But this post is going to cover Ford’s attitude. He’s not the first, nor will he be the last, in a long line of conservative politicians who believe they have government “all figured out” and can ride in to save the day. What are the hallmarks of this all-too-prevalent political ethos?
Perception of government operations and responsibilities as simple
Conservatives tend to believe that government processes ought to be simple. This comes in part in the belief that government shouldn’t get in the way of business, or complicate business operations. It often ignores the pervasiveness of illegal or immoral activity by businesses, especially where public interest is concerned. “Why are there so many regulations!?” they will often crow, ignoring our shared history of significant injury to the citizenry. Regulations exist to protect people, but don’t try to tell conservatives that
Governments should operate like a business
This is high on my list of ass-backwards, ignorant, and idiotic opinions that many conservatives share. While I agree that a government’s adherence to fiscal bookkeeping should be enforced strictly. governments DO NOT exist to create profit; not for the citizens and surely not for its agents. Governments exist to provide services and protection for the citizens in its jurisdiction. It is preferable that a government operate in the black, but, the provision of services and protection of the citizenry supersedes this. If the government should need to operate at a deficit, or raise taxes to cover its obligations, so be it. Many will ask “where will the money come from?” In our current context, there is a very simple answer to this question. Where income inequality is so stark, you do what Deep Throat implored Woodward and Bernstein to do when they were investigating Nixon: FOLLOW THE MONEY. I’m not referring to where the slush funds are, but, rather, who has the money? I’m not talking about the middle class, or even the upper-middle class, but the many millionaires, billionaires, and wildly profitable corporations that do not pay their fair share of taxes. Go get the money from them!
Businesses fuck around with their books, operations, and financial responsibilities all the time. Why should they be held up as some kind of positive example of fiscal conscientiousness? The hypocrisy is blinding!
Bureaucrats are a bunch of unnecessary, lazy, entitled leaches
While I’m sure there is incompetence and corruption amongst non-elected government employees, there’s no evidence to suggest this is more prevalent in government than it is in any other sector. There’s also no evidence that conservatives are more interested in removing this incompetence and corruption than progressives are. Conservatives are just more loud and stupid about it. This opinion is so insulting to the many hard-working, caring, dedicated government employees who tirelessly toil and innovate to bring services and protection to the people of Ontario. Like regulations, bureaucrats exist for a reason. These government offices and programs arose out of a need, again, and I’m sorry for beating a dead horse here, to bring services and protections to the citizenry. They exist to ensure the regulations are fair and effective. Is it perfect? No. But perfection is a vision, an ideal, not a direction or end result.
All this culminates in a sense of superiority. Not just over bureaucrats, but over certain parts of the electorate. The bullets above point towards an undeniable mentality that asks “what are you doing for me - me personally?” not “what is everyone doing for all of us?” The individual, not the collective. And anyone in the electorate that isn’t doing something for conservatives is just in the way.
This all leads us to the Premier of the Province of Ontario, Douglas Robert Ford Jr., during the third reading (and unfortunate passing) of Bill 60, on Monday, November 24, 2025, telling a protestor to ‘go find a job.’
Ford later doubled-down on his comments, claiming the protestor was paid, and decrying any opposition to the legislation. There are so many things wrong with this sanctimonious attitude, it’s hard to know where to start, or to list every reason why it’s problematic; but I’ll give it a try. The statement assumes the following:
Protest isn’t valid, relevant, and necessary
Anyone who protests is paid to do so and doesn’t hold these beliefs honestly
Protestors aren’t employed and taking time off to exercise their constitutional rights
Only an employed person is allowed to participate in government
Unemployed people are somehow less valid
Granted, the rules of the Ontario Legislature do require (amongst other things) complete silence from the public gallery. So, those protesting by making any noise were in contravention of those rules. However, when a government with a super-majority of seats provides no relevant public consultation before ramming an omnibus bill through the legislature, what are the people supposed to do? Where injustice exists, protest is a citizen’s duty.
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly then cleared the gallery. But it doesn’t end there. There should be repercussions for Ford’s actions.
As seen in the clip above, John Fraser, interim leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, called Ford’s actions “totally unbecoming of the Office of the Premier.” This is exactly correct. The Premier is expected to act with some level of decorum. And, regardless of his completely unfounded opinions on the nature of the protest or the employment status of the protestor in question (which shouldn’t matter in any case), he has no right to speak that way to any person. Here are some things that Doug Ford ought to know:
Some of the eople who attended that protest are employed. They care about their province, about the people who live here, and want to help them and themselves. So, they take time off work to exercise their constitutional rights and to ensure that you’re aware that they do not approve of your heartless, despicable policies and legislation
It doesn’t matter whether or not protestors are employed. Everyone has the right to protest, regardless of their financial (or any other context) situation. Your inability to recognize that says nothing about who is protesting you, and everything about your noxious, supercilious indifference. If you should choose to pay any special attention to unemployed Ontarians, it should be to help them, not stigmatize them. But your entire time in office has been one decision after another that seeks to hurt the underprivileged. There will be eventual consequences for this as well
You work for the people of Ontario; comport yourself accordingly. Disrespect for any citizen of the Province, regardless of the situation, is entirely unacceptable. Do better. Apologize to this person directly and begin the process of listening to Ontarians; not just your developer cronies and those who can also do something for you. Quid pro quo in politics is unacceptable
I recognize my propensity for invective in this post. And I know that invective often doesn’t reach a target. I mean that both metaphorically and literally. Doug Ford will probably never read this. And, if he did, he would consider it rude and lacking in verisimilitude. But sometimes, when you’re so furious with someone, so incensed with their continued, ignorant disrespect, invective is the only way to acquire satisfaction. Loathe as I am to promote traditional methods of redress, I am using “satisfaction” in the way it would be used as resolution to a duel. This is the type of satisfaction that the people of the province of Ontario deserve against our current Premier.
