Opposition warns Ford comments push boundaries of 'caretaker convention' during Ontario election
Tradition sees premier and cabinet pause all but emergency decision-making during election
Doug Ford says he will remain on duty as premier, flying to meet with American officials in the face of Donald Trump's tariff threat even as he wages a re-election campaign — something opposition politicians say is an inappropriate use of his office and defies democratic norms.
Ford's comments in recent weeks appear to push the boundaries of what's known as the "caretaker convention," a federal and provincial practice that continues day-to-day government operations but pauses all but the most important emergency decision-making. At the start of an election, Ontario's legislature is dissolved and does not conduct business, but the premier and cabinet members remain in place and are expected to exercise caution around their government roles.
"I'll still be Premier every single day," Ford said last Friday. "I'll be talking to our ministers. We'll be getting policies out there."
Ford has said he'll be travelling to Washington, D.C., twice during the provincial election and serve as the head of the premier's group, the Council of the Federation, to push back in-person against Trump's threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods.
Ford has said the Progressive Conservative Party will pay for the trips and not the Ontario government. He has also insisted that calling an election would not mean he was taking his eye off the brewing trade war.
Ford should cancel trips to Washington: Liberal leader
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said Ford is intentionally flouting democratic norms to use his platform as premier to give him an advantage with voters.
He should resign as head of the premier's group and not travel to Washington, she said.
"He cannot use government resources or taxpayers funds to advance his own political interests," Crombie said. "That's what's at the basis of the caretaker convention."
The Liberals wrote to three top civil servants this week — the heads of the Ontario Public Service, Elections Ontario and the Integrity Commissioner — asking for them to publicly restate best practices and monitor the situation during the campaign to ensure taxpayer resources aren't used for partisan purposes.
"He should be here," Crombie said. "You can't wear multiple hats, I'm sorry."
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner also slammed Ford, saying he can't govern and campaign at the same time.
"If he wants to call an early election for his own political gain and put his government into caretaker mode, then he shouldn't take trips to Washington financed by his own party," he said in a statement. "To do so is just disingenuous to the people of Ontario."
Ford's statements create a "grey area" when it comes to the convention, said Zac Spicer, a York University public policy professor.
The premier should be expected to respond to emergency situations and Ford has tried to justify the imposition of tariffs as a major economic threat to the province, Spicer said, but he's also used the tariff threat to justify the election further complicating matters.
"I think a compromise could probably be found in having the premier do the necessary meetings without being very public about it," he said.
The premier would benefit from the two trips and his position with the premiers' group as a podium during the election, said Peter Graefe, a McMaster University political science professor.
"Using your role as premier to be on a stage like that is really abusing the caretaker convention," Graefe said. "The only time that you would expect an elected official to engage in such events would be in some kind of crisis."
Former Liberal minister John Milloy says cabinet and political staff are briefed on the caretaker convention ahead of a vote and given instruction on what is and isn't appropriate. And it wasn't unusual for ministers to be absent from provincial and territorial meetings, he says, with a civil servant instead sent in their place.
"The advice you're given is to stay the heck away from your ministry," said Milloy, who is now the director of the Centre for Public Ethics at Martin Luther University College.
But Milloy acknowledges the caretaker convention is just that, and there's no penalty if it's violated.
"This is all about that moment every several years when the voters are in charge," he said. "And you know, that has to be very sacred. It's about putting your best foot forward, making your case and making it in an even playing field."
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