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This is nothing we haven鈥檛 seen before: right-wing populism, which these days is just mainstream conservatism, is remarkably consistent across space and time, and after almost seven years of Ford rule in Ontario, things have gone more or less as you鈥檇 expect.

You鈥檝e got your program cuts (e.g., safe-consumption sites), your creeping privatization (e.g., the health-care system) and your vibes-based policymaking (e.g., removing bike lanes to ease traffic congestion). You鈥檝e got your insistent claims of fiscal prudence and your biggest, most expensive cabinet in history. And you鈥檝e got your millionaire man of the people professing to shield you from threats foreign (Trump, explicitly) and domestic (cyclists, presumably).

It鈥檚 all very predictable stuff, and if, as predicted, Ford wins on February 27, there’s a good chance you’ll get more of the same. But after the bike lanes are removed and the safe-consumption sites are eradicated, after the Ontario Science Centre meets whatever grim fate awaits it and Ontario Place becomes a parking garage, after Ford realizes his vision for this province, what will be left of it to protect? The Bradford Bypass?

See, this is one of the many reasons cultural and educational institutions matter: they give us a sense of our shared heritage, of what Ontario has been and could be and of why that鈥檚 worth protecting. I thought conservatives loved that sort of thing, but politicians like Ford keep proving me wrong. No one鈥檚 patriotic feelings are stirred by a privately operated luxury spa. No one鈥檚 sense of self is located in corner-store beer.

This is not a liberal-versus-conservative thing. It was a conservative who established Ontario Place. It was a conservative who established the Ontario Science Centre. It was a conservative who established our system of community colleges and, honest to God, our public broadcaster. In fact, it was all the same guy: the late Bill Davis, premier from 1971 to 1985 and, one can only assume, sworn enemy of Doug Ford, who sold off the first thing, let rot the second thing, hobbled the third thing, and mostly ignored the fourth thing.

Meanwhile, what has Ford contributed to the cultural life of this province? What has he contributed to our sense of pride in Ontario? If he wants to protect us from America, he could start by showing us a future that’s worth protecting. His sloganeering might briefly rouse the jingoist inside us, but it鈥檚 leaders like Davis who manage to instill things that are more enduring, things that can鈥檛 be expressed via baseball cap.

Alas, also things that don鈥檛 send voters to the polls. And that鈥檚 the point, really. Ontarians may be united against Trump (although even that鈥檚 questionable), but that doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e united. A substantial number of Ontarians 鈥� a substantial number of whom won鈥檛 vote 鈥� don鈥檛 want to give Ford a stronger mandate, because they saw what he did with the first two. Saving the economy from Trump鈥檚 tariffs is obviously important, but so is being able to afford a house, see a family doctor, and bicycle to work without getting killed.

鈥淧rotect Ontario,鈥� sure. Only give us something to protect.