Premier Doug Ford! Canada’s biggest province elects a right-wing populist – Rob’s brother, businessman, millionaire heir who ran against “elites” and for the “little guy”; one-term city councillor who vows to clean up a scandal-plagued Ontario government.
Doug Ford: president of the family labels business; incendiary presence on Toronto city council; gleeful media-criticizer; devoted Trump supporter; frequent utterer of false claims; non-fan of policy details; enjoys popularity across racial and income lines.
This is a very big deal for a province with more than a third of Canada’s population. It’s proportionally like electing the governor of California, Texas, Florida and New York combined.
One year ago this month, the NYT published this headline on a story reported from Ontario: 
The context: the Liberals had a 15-year run of increasingly unpopular government; whoever the Progressive Conservative candidate was, conventional or Ford, would’ve been overwhelmingly favoured. But still, a remarkable development.
Interested to see what Ford traits emerge over these four years. At Toronto city hall, he often swung with little warning between charming, good-natured salesman and belligerent rage.
On council, Ford was a would-be bulldozer who usually couldn’t bulldoze – council had the votes to stop him and Rob, and he wasn’t deft or knowledgeable enough to navigate the complexity; his go-to weapon was grandiose threats people laughed off. Now he has majority control.
Last #onpoli tweet, which I promise is unsolicited and unpaid: it's a good time to buy or borrow @robyndoolittle's Crazy Town. amazon.ca/Crazy-Town-Rob…
