Doug Ford got a lot of laughs when he joked about becoming a Liberal
The water glass was a paid actor
During yesterday’s Waterfront East LRT announcement, you were likely focused on the mayor, premier and prime minister being in the same place to reveal their combined $3-billion investment, which will extend the Queens Quay streetcar tracks east to the Port Lands and Cherry Street.
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But did you catch the three leaders sharing a laugh about Doug Ford’s party affiliation? Cameras were rolling, fortunately, so we all got to witness Prime Minister Mark Carney, Premier Doug Ford and Mayor Olivia Chow enjoying a moment of comedy.
Ford, at the podium, nearly sipped from a glass that had been set out for the prime minister. “Christ,” said Ford. “I almost drank your water. Did you have a sip of that?” Carney insisted that he didn’t, and said Ford was free to have it. Ford replied, “This isn’t going to turn me into a Liberal is it?”
The crowd went wild—so wild that they may not have heard the real joke, which was Ford following up by saying, “I’ve already been accused of being a Liberal!”
Now we’re really laughing.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
