ABOVE THE FOLD
HOME DEPOT HERO — DOUG FORD went off-script during a “fireside” chat with BEN MULRONEY at the Empire Club, sharing a colourful anecdote about threatening to beat up a shoplifter.
The Premier said he ditched his OPP detail one early morning to pick up some plants for the cottage at Home Depot, when he spotted a man allegedly stealing and making a run for it by the garden centre. “I said, buddy, I’m going to kick your ass all over the parking lot,” Ford recalled, to laughter and applause. Clip.
That off-the-cuff spiel wound up being the headline of Ford’s speech. It was pure red meat for his base — and even beyond, especially with rising anxiety about home invasions and petty crime. For a Premier who loves a law-and-order moment, it was a crowd-pleasing bit of political retail theatre (literally).
Meanwhile, the PC government launched a fresh round of anti-tariff ads south of the border — a $75-million blitz aimed at wooing American audiences featuring RONALD REAGAN (Ford’s …