Ontario Premier Doug Ford seems to have discovered the secret sauce to political longevity. When bad things happen, find someone else to blame.A few weeks ago, alcohol giant Diageo announced that it plans to shut down its Amherstburg, Ontario facility, where Crown Royal whisky is currently bottled, and shift its bottling operations for Canadian customers to a facility in Quebec. Bottling operations for American customers, meanwhile, will be moved stateside. .EDITORIAL: It’s time to hit the reset button on Canada’s broken immigration system.All told, some 200 local jobs will be lost.Why is Diageo shifting its bottling operations?According to the company, its move “is not a reaction to the current trade environment.” .In other words, the trade conflict with the United States is not to blame.What is?Likely Ontario’s high corporate taxes, high energy prices, and burdensome government regulations. .ALBERS: Government does not create value.What is Ford’s solution to all of this? Is it to keep his seven-year-old commitment to cut corporate taxes? Is it to find a solution to Ontario’s sky-high hydro rates? Is it to cut red tape? No, no, and no. Instead, Ford is playing up the trade war angle. At a press conference outside the Amherstburg facility a few weeks ago, Ford made a spectacle of pouring out a bottle of Crown Royal whisky at the podium..“You hurt my people, I’m going to hurt you,” Ford declared, refusing at the time to rule out taking Crown Royal off LCBO shelves. It now appears as though Ford is preparing to do just that. “Those bottles of Crown Royal are coming off the LCBO shelves,” Ford declared at a union rally last weekend.It’s important to note that Crown Royal whisky will still be distilled and aged in Manitoba. For Canadian customers, it will still be bottled in Quebec. .MacKINNON: Mark Carney’s White House prestazione.That means every element of the Crown Royal manufacturing process for Canadian consumers will still occur in Canada. Yet Ford, rather than taking responsibility for the fact that Ontario’s investment climate is poor and unemployment is at a level not seen in more than a decade, would rather proceed with theatrics. Nothing, of course, could be blamed on bad government policy.Ford is even doubling down, suggesting that Diageo’s Smirnoff brand could be targeted next if the company doesn’t reverse its decision to close its Amherstburg, Ontario facility. In August, Ontario lost some 26,000 jobs. Yet instead of dealing with the underlying conditions that are leading to those job losses, Ford is obsessing over this one case. .Ford certainly hasn’t been seen knocking on the door of the hundreds of companies that have let Ontario workers go over the past number of months. Instead, he’s laser-focused on Diageo because he knows he can pull a political stunt and divert attention away from Ontario’s poor economic environment. Ontarians don’t want to see whisky poured out at a press conference. They want to see a concrete plan from the government to tackle Ontario’s economic stagnation, which began long before President Donald Trump retook the White House. .OLDCORN: Moe's China EV tariff flip flop betrays Saskatchewan producers.Now is the time for Ford to come up with a bold economic plan that cuts taxes, reins in spending, slashes red tape, and addresses the hydro pricing crisis. The trade war has become the perfect scapegoat for Ford. Everything that is wrong with Ontario’s economy, from ill-advised corporate welfare spending on electric vehicles, to high taxes, to runaway government spending, to declining business investment, can be blamed on the American boogeyman. .Ontario’s economy is in a state of disrepair, but Ford’s poll numbers have never been higher. A recent Abacus poll put the Ontario Progressive Conservatives at 52% support province-wide. Ford’s bravado may be good politics, but it isn’t good policy. If companies see Ford threatening massive retaliation toward a company like Diageo for making a decision based on Ontario’s business climate, why would they even begin to contemplate investing in Ontario? .EYRE: Beware the ‘nation-building’ boosters: Why governments shouldn’t pick winners and losers.As Ontario continues to stagnate, Ford needs to decide what he wants his legacy to be. Does he want short-term popularity from political stunts or does he want to be known as the man who helped fix Ontario’s ailing economy? Ultimately, the choice is up to him.
