In the popular imagination, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s favourite negotiating tool is a sledge hammer, but it’s interesting to see the successful and relatively subtle way that he managed to spike a plan by Google to grab much of Toronto’s undeveloped waterfront and turn it into a test lab at significant taxpayer expense.
Andrew MacLeod, the chief executive of Postmedia Network Inc., which owns the National Post, is a member of the board of directors of Waterfront Toronto. Sidewalk Labs’ plan had a tech gloss, but at its heart, it was a development scheme. As Ford summarized it, “They want to take over 170 acres and they want us to pay them.”
The way Ford dealt with the waterfront issue is an interesting indicator of the premier’s new, less-confrontational style For Ford watchers, the way he dealt with the waterfront issue is an interesting indicator of the premier’s new, less-confrontational style. Rather than get in a fight with either the city or the federal government, Ford strengthened the board, said where he stood publicly, and let the board work it out.
'Sensors would be everywhere, gathering data on what people did' No thanks
FordD150
God what derp