Premier Kathleen Wynne says Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford's decision to leave journalists in the dust bodes ill for democratic norms in Ontario.
A Ford spokesperson told The Canadian Press Wednesday his campaign tour will not have reporters on board, scrapping the media bus that typically trails political leaders in election season.
"If a politician doesn't want to talk to the press – doesn't want to talk to the people – whose role it is to analyze and interpret and bring information in a responsible way to the people of the province, I think it's a problem," Wynne said Thursday morning.
"I think that the democratic process relies on media," she told reporters. "There are local media in every community and that's really, really important, but it's also important for the provincial media to have the opportunity to track what's going on in a campaign."
Ford spokesperson Melissa Lantsman responded a few hours later, telling QP Briefing by email: "Media are welcome at every event. This only means less access if media choose not to attend campaign events."
Ford's campaign events will be broadcast online and his itinerary will be released for journalists who want to catch up with the tour in person, Lantsman said.
Experts suggested the move to unhitch the would-be wagon of journos from Ford's campaign indicates <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-scrapping-media-bus-for-campaign-suggests-tories-want-him-out-of-the-hot-seat-experts-1.4605894?cmp=rss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an attempt to curtail negative coverage</a> of his unpredictable utterings, which have a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/toronto2014election/2014/10/06/campaign_lie_detector_doug_ford_says_21_inaccurate_things_during_radio_appearance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">history of clashing with facts</a>.
<hr />
Ford fought back with affection to frustration from Black community leaders about his <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2018/04/04/doug-ford-steer-clear-debate-hosted-black-community-groups/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision to skip out</a> on this Wednesday's leaders' debate, to be hosted at the Jamaican Canadian Association.
"There's no other politician in this country, no other politician outside of Rob Ford, that has supported the Black community more than I have," he told reporters Thursday in response to questions on why he was steering clear. "I have massive support. I love 'em; they love me. Next question."
While under the influence, the late Rob Ford said he was "<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2014/05/09/rob_ford_one_wild_night_in_march.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most racist guy around</a>," and used the N-word. In a separate incident he also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpwflzSF4M" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke in a Jamaican patois accent</a>.
Asked to provide an example of how he has supported the Black community, Ford said he's brought 80 children – "predominantly Black community in some pretty tough areas" – <a href="http://torontosun.com/2016/08/04/fordfest-camp-day-gives-kids-cottage-time/wcm/bed05049-2f53-4ac4-b911-4de630af30cd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">up to his cottage in Muskoka</a> each year for the last three years. "These kids have never been to Muskoka in their lives ... These kids have never put their foot in a lake before. They've never been on a jet ski before."
<hr />
Ford said he's ready to debate the premier, just not at the one organized by Black community leaders and scheduled to occur with the other party leaders next week, because he'll be up north for four days. The Tory party leader said in a scrum that he'd be willing to do two or three campaign debates. "I think we're going to have two, three televised debates," he said in a scrum. Ford also committed to taking questions from the media every day on the campaign trail.
<div>
But he was vague when it came to committing to what his campaign platform will look like.
"We don't know and we don't trust Kathleen Wynne's budget," Ford said when asked if he would release a fully-costed platform. Ford said he won't take her approach. "But what I'm not going to do, I'm not going to go around promising stuff like Kathleen Wynne is doing, spending billions and billions of dollars of money that isn't even hers, it's the taxpayers' money, and try to buy votes like Kathleen Wynne has been doing."
Some of his recent announcements suggest otherwise.
On Tuesday, Ford told an auditorium of 500 people that they could keep $1.2 billion that's earmarked to build a local LRT line even if the city doesn't build the line, <a href="https://www.hamiltonnews.com/news-story/8371685-doug-ford-to-hamilton-keep-the-1-billion-if-you-reject-lrt/">according to the Hamilton News</a>. And on Wednesday, in Brantford, Ford said he was open to funding a new local hospital if he's elected premier in June, <a href="http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2018/04/04/ford-open-to-funding-new-hospital">according to the Brantford Expositor</a>.
</div>

In Brief: ‘I love ’em,’ Ford says of Black Ontarians; throwing journos under the bus; platform protocol

Read this for free.