Doug Ford was Justin Trudeau’s punching bag in 2019. For this campaign, insiders say, the leaders will keep the peace

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This article was published 16/08/2021 (1513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will be keeping the peace for the Sept. 20 election, the Star has learned.

In sharp contrast to the 2019 campaign, when Trudeau attacked Ford on an almost daily basis — and the provincial Conservatives were fighting the Liberals in court — the two leaders will not be fixated on each other.

“We’re not running against Doug Ford,” a high-ranking Liberal, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal strategic talks, said Monday.

Senior Progressive Conservative officials confirm that there have been productive informal conversations with the governing Liberals on the shared priorities of the two leaders — and keeping their powder dry.

“We are too busy fighting COVID-19 to fight the federal Liberals,” said a top Ford confidante.

“We’ve been pushing not to get into this fight. The Trudeau Liberals and the Ford Conservatives shared about 15 per cent of the electorate, so we represent many of the same ridings,” said the official.

Another senior provincial Tory agreed “this is not our fight.”

“If some (Liberal) candidates take shots at the premier, we will turn the other cheek,” said the second insider, warning “we have lots of money to fight and lot of tools, but we don’t want to fight.”

That’s an apparent reference to a $3 million war chest the provincial party set aside for a potential advertising blitz during the federal campaign.

Similarly, Trudeau’s team insisted they do not seek a reprise of the 2019 election when the federal Liberals targeted Ford in Ontario more than they did the then-federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.

“We have worked closely with Conservative premiers from across the country throughout the pandemic, including Premier Ford,” the senior Grit said.

“And we are looking to work with Premier Ford to bring $10-a-day child care for Ontario families and we believe we can get this done together,” the insider said, referring to ongoing negotiations between Ottawa and Queen’s Park.

The Liberal stressed this is a “very different” time than two years ago.

“In 2019, they were taking us to court (over the federal carbon-pricing plan) and they had gas pump stickers attacking us over climate change. If anything, we had to fight back (at the time).”

His comment referred to Ford’s unsuccessful Supreme Court challenge of Trudeau’s climate plan and to the province’s mandatory decals on gasoline pumps that said “the federal carbon tax will cost you.”

After a legal challenge by Canadian Civil Liberties Association, an Ontario court ruled last September that the stickers were unconstitutional.

The Liberal and Tory insiders insist that is all water under the bridge thanks a COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Trudeau and Ford to work together.

“This is like a 1945 election, it’s that momentous,” the Liberal said, noting that, like the post-Second World War era, governments must co-operate to rebuild.

With an Ontario election set for June 2, 2022, Ford’s team is not interested in wasting precious political capital on a federal campaign.

“We want (the premier) to stay out of this one. We’re not looking to be mean to the (federal) Conservatives, but, again, this is not our fight.”

Another change in circumstance is that public opinion polls suggest Ford is more popular now than he was in 2019.

That June, he was booed at the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship victory celebration at Nathan Phillips Square while Trudeau and Mayor John Tory were cheered.

But since the pandemic struck in March 2020, Ford’s polling has largely rebounded and he has shared the stage with Trudeau at several high-profile events, including one year ago when they teamed up to launch domestic manufacturing of 3M N95 ventilator masks in Brockville.

“You wonder why I’m always up here praising him? Because he did an incredible job as prime minister,” the premier said at the time, adding Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also “did an incredible job.”

“People expected us to put our differences aside — to put the politics aside and work together — and that’s exactly what we did,” said Ford last Aug. 21.

When Trudeau promoted Freeland to finance minister last summer, the premier called it an “amazing” appointment, a statement that neutralized federal Conservative criticism of the shuffle.

Still, relations have not been all warm and fuzzy with the two leaders this year.

At the height of the third wave in May, the Tories spent $2 million on an ad blitz urging Trudeau to tighten controls at borders and airports to stop travellers from bring more COVID-19 into Canada.

While the Liberal leader complained the ads were “personal attacks,” his team conceded the TV commercials were effective.

That was one reason why Ottawa then did much of what Queen’s Park was demanding.

Aside from the policy implications, the provincial Tory commercials were a salvo to remind the federal Liberals that Ford would play hardball if need be in an election.

“It just let them know we’re serious,” said the Ford confidante.

During the last campaign, the premier served as Trudeau’s punching bag — at one news conference he mentioned Ford 14 times — while also being persona non grata to Scheer’s Conservatives.

Scheer even held an event a 10 minute walk from Ford’s Etobicoke home but did not invite him or mention his name from the dais.

Compounding the insult, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, then far more popular than he is now, flew to Ontario to campaign for the federal Tories.

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Ford’s unhappiness with his treatment from Scheer’s campaign has morphed into indifference toward federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole.

While both their fathers — Doug Ford, Sr., and John O’Toole — were Tory MPPs together between 1995 and 1999, they are not close.

In part because of that, Ford has decreed Tory cabinet ministers, MPPs, and senior staff should also “stay out of” the federal election.

“At the riding and staff level you can help out locally,” said the top official. “But it’s been made clear that this is not our election.”

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie