It took a few seconds before the crowd realized Doug Ford wasn't choking.

The premier started his speech at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference with a coughing fit, calling back to the press conference last week when he swallowed a bee on live television.

The crowd of mayors, councillors and municipal staffers — happy to be gathered in person for the first time in three years — ate it up. Ford kept rolling with a tight 90-second set of opposition-controlled bee drone jokes.

"Remember the show, E.T.? 'E.T., phone home'? Now everything is coming together because I see a little microchip on the bottom of this little guy here, and he kept saying, 'Bee, bee, phone home," he said.

They can't all be hits.

Ford didn't make any new announcements in his speech. But he teased more details on the new "strong mayor" legislation.

"In the coming months, we’ll have more information on how these tools will be expanded to other municipalities," he said, "so more municipal leaders, like yourselves, can help grow Ontario."

READ MORE: Toronto and Ottawa set to get ‘strong mayors’ this year

He seemed to finally be on the same page as his municipal affairs and housing minister about what the law is primarily for.

"Building more homes is at the top of the list," said the premier, who initially said that wasn't the justification.

Ford's speech, unsurprisingly, focused on #GettingItDone. Building homes, highways and manufacturing centres proved popular with the municipal crowd, who interrupted the premier with applause a few times.

"We’re expanding Highway 417 here in Ottawa. We’re building the Garden City Skyway bridge expansion over the Welland Canal to serve the Niagara region. We’re expanding Highway 7 for drivers in Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. And we’re building Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass," he said.

He also touched on the health-care staffing crisis, which has seen emergency rooms across the province shut down due to a lack of workers. The government hasn't ruled out more privatization of the health-care system as a result.

READ MORE: Ontario considering moving some surgeries out of hospitals to reduce wait times

Ford praised the work of Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

"Since day one on the job, Minister Jones has been actively engaging with our front-line partners to identify concrete solutions. I know she’ll have more to say on Wednesday," he said.

Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare followed the premier. He criticized what NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa has called "jurisdictional ping-pong" on First Nations issues.

"When I have issues of concern ... when it comes to water, if there is something wrong with it: 'Well, I'm sorry. I can't help you. This is provincial. I'm sorry. That's a federal problem,'" Hare said. "I don't care what colour your party is. We drink the same water for the same reason."

He also called for a revamp of Ontario's child welfare system, which was recently the subject of an APTN/Global investigation that found alarming problems.

"Listen to us. Stop taking our kids away," he said. "I asked a woman, a mom, a non-Native person: If I went in your home tomorrow and grabbed your four kids, without even telling you why, and I come back two days later with your kids and say, I'm sorry, we made a mistake, how would you feel?"

"This is what we live every day," he said.

He also criticized the province's Ring of Fire plan, saying his communities have often not seen wealth from extractive projects in Ontario.

"I think it's safe to say we're almost at zero per cent of First Nation confidence in the construction and agreements," he said. "But yet, they come and get it in our backyard."

In the afternoon, it was the opposition parties' turn to whisper sweet nothings into councillors' ears.

As the head of a party currently not enjoying a massive majority, NDP interim leader Peter Tabuns' speech had fewer jokes.

Instead, he seized on municipalities' complaints with the provincial government — cost-sharing arrangements, health-care staffing crises, and the homelessness and overdose epidemics.

He dialled in on the top issue on most mayors' minds: post-COVID budgets.

"Ontario’s municipalities are still facing a multibillion-dollar COVID-related budget hole. Even in the face of skyrocketing inflation, Doug Ford has refused to increase the Ontario Municipalities Partnership Fund," he said.

Tabuns noted that the fund was $595 million 10 years ago and now sits at $500 million. An NDP government would raise it to $550 million, he said.

He reiterated the NDP's support for AMO's call for a new public health cost-sharing agreement: 75 per cent provincial, 25 per cent municipal — and 100 per cent for pandemic-related costs. Currently, it's 70/30, but the province used to fully cover some programs like oral health.

Tabuns also promised half-and-half cost-sharing for municipal transit operations.

He said Ford "points fingers" at municipalities for not building enough homes instead of taking action himself, like ending exclusionary zoning.

READ MORE: ‘They’re not ready’: Clark blames municipalities for lack of substance in new housing bill

"Instead, he’s focused on changing councils to a strong mayor system. Some of you may support that and some may not. But when it comes to housing and other priorities, it misses the target by a country mile," he said.

Tabuns also mentioned highways — in a pro-highway context. Instead of calling on the government not to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, he demanded upgrades to existing ones.

"We will call on this government to invest in roads, bridges and better maintenance, including making highways 11 and 17 Class 1 highways," he said.

Liberal municipal affairs critic Stephen Blais gave a lot of attention to his pet issue: trying to get the province to step in on misbehaving councillors. If there was ever an audience for it, this was it.

"There must be a process to remove bad actors, people who cause this level of hurt, to be removed from office," he said to applause.

Blais wasn't one to be outdone on the humour front, with a dependable minivan joke (the entire Liberal caucus carpooled to the event together, he said) and a callback to the PCs defying Ford's pick for Speaker.

"There's nobody to whip us into shape, telling us how to vote. In fact, that's so popular, I understand the Tories are going to adopt that approach at the legislature," he said.

AMO 2022: Ford gets crowd buzzing with bee joke, ‘strong mayor’ promise

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