The Ford government won’t be back at work until the end of October
“No one can question my work ethic,” the premier said, after working for one month
We know some Torontonians plan to vacate the city during World Cup chaos, but the Ontario legislature’s 21-week recess, which has already started, seems a little extreme.
As noted by the Canadian Press, the government’s extended break follows just 30 days of work, which came after a 14-week break during the winter.
Premier Doug Ford insisted he will put the time to good use. “No one can question my work ethic,” he said. “The next three months, I am jammed from six in the morning. I don’t get home until midnight every single night.” Ford will attend the Calgary Stampede on government business this summer, and will visit several American states to advocate against US tariffs.
Related: Doug Ford says he’s not bothered by abysmal approval ratings
Still, it seems like a ludicrous choice for a premier who told students that “money doesn’t grow on trees” then purchased a $28.9-million private jet with taxpayer funds, to now leave the office until October, while insisting the province’s government employees stop working remotely.
“The premier can spend the summer at his cottage. We’ll spend that time fighting for a more affordable Ontario,” provincial NDP leader Marit Stiles said in a statement.
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser provided a similar comment, saying of the 21-week recess, “It’s wrong, and the government’s just getting in the habit of doing this. They don’t want to be here. They don’t want the scrutiny.”
No one has gone to Kim Kardashian for comment, but we think we know what she’d say.
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.
