EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park
TORONTO - Speaking with key stakeholders on Friday, Premier Doug Ford outlined Toronto's contributions to Ontario's economy, his model of conservatism and how the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war is fuelling nationalism across the country.
His audience of Grade 3 students was mostly interested in how old he was and how much money he made.
Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow appeared together at an Etobicoke school to promote a fundraiser for student nutrition programs. A student asked if their jobs were hard.
"Oh, very hard," Ford said.
"It's harder for him because he has (a) bigger area, more people," Chow said.
"So, the GDP — " Ford said, "and the teachers will teach you about GDP — for Ontario, Toronto's responsible for 50 per cent of the GDP."
"That means money," Chow said.
"So put it this way — I'm gonna simplify it. All the manufacturing — service, goods, everything — that's the total. And our GPD's over a trillion dollars — 1.1 trillion. Fifty per cent comes from (Toronto). So everything we buy," Ford said.
Chow fielded the next question: "How old are you?"
She asked the now-raucous peanut gallery to guess. Estimates ranged from 57 to 95.
"I am almost..."
"How old is Doug Ford?" another student wondered aloud, setting off more peals of laughter.
"I am almost 68," she shouted over the din. Chow's birthday is on Monday.
"I'm 60!" Ford added.
Once everyone had settled down, a child asked if Ontario was the best province. Ford assured him it was.
"It's the best province anywhere in the entire world. It's because of the people and the diversification that we have. So we have 110 nationalities, up to 200 languages—"
"Whoa... 67," a child mused.
"And do you know what I love? No place in the world has this. Everyone gets along, everyone works together," Ford added on the day his government announced a 110-bed prison expansion in London.
Ford noted the ongoing tariff war with the United States but caught himself so as not to imply something more dire.
"And, you know, as — and I don't want to get deep into this — but as we're getting attacked by President Trump economically — just economically — it doesn't ... do you know what the number 1 thing is? The patriotism I've seen through all 110 nationalities," he said.
"They might be Italian, they might be Chinese, whatever, but they're Canadian. And everyone's waving that Canadian flag. And, you know, when we had our ceremony yesterday — day before, I'm jumping ahead — but I looked out in the crowd, and I thought, boy, this is a snapshot of Ontario," Ford said, referring to his cabinet's swearing-in.
"It's every creed, colour, race, it's every sector represented. And when we were saying our speech, everyone was cheering, and I was getting chills up and down, just because we're all patriotic Canadians, you know? And it's amazing how we all come together and — oh, boy, this is just the greatest country in the world and the greatest province anywhere in the world to live and raise a family," he said.
"Yeah!" Chow said, clapping.
Unable to help herself, Toronto's mayor gave a similar speech on unity and Canadianness to the mostly silent room.
"Big family," Ford added, referring to Canadians. "And families can disagree sometimes, your brother, your sister, right, we have a little bit — but someone else comes to bother our family? Yeah, that's it. It's game over."
Chow then asked the final student to ask his question.
"How much money do you guys make?" he asked.
"No," Chow said.
The mayor tried to pivot to fundraising efforts.
"That's all right, ours is public," Ford said. "I make $209,000."
"Ahh!" a student said.
"I took a massive pay cut," Ford added.
"You don't do it for the money. You do it because of the passion and the people. And I just have one philosophy, when you get older and your parents and everything — you know, the government wants to take less money off you, right? That's what we do. I don't want more money. I want more money into your pockets, and your families'. So, yeah," he said.