Doug Ford surely knows that in politics as in matrimony, you only get one summer of love. There are no second honeymoons, no second acts, no second chances.Not a minute to lose in launching the “shock and awe” approach to his opening season — by declaring open season on everything that went before him.While he still can. Before buyer’s remorse and voter’s regret sets in.From his swank new perch in the premier’s office, Ford can feel the love today as strongly as he did on election day. As if it were yesterday.After sweeping to power, Ford quickly summoned MPPs for a rare summer sitting by Ontario’s first self-declared “Government for the People.” Now, six weeks later — after countless public boasts of “Promise made, promise kept” — the legislature is taking a delayed summer break from the first wave of shock and awe. And awe and shock.What has Ford wrought?Read more:Opinion | Rob Ferguson: Ontario Legislature’s heated summer session ends with battle lines drawnPennies off your gas, pennies off your hydro, pennies off your beer, and a penny for your thoughts about sex-education.Save your pennies, because they come at a cost:Billions of dollars wiped off the stock market value of provincially held Hydro One, after the premier pressured the board of directors to dump its highly rated (but highly paid) CEO Mayo Schmidt, dubbed the “Six Million Dollar Man,” reducing electricity bills by a couple of pennies a month.The fight against global warming is in the deep freeze after the Tories declared an end to carbon pricing in any form. It pulled out of the cap-and-trade system pioneered by right-leaning governments in Quebec and California, then promised a pointless court battle against the default federal carbon tax imposed on provinces that evade their responsibilities (Manitoba’s PC government concluded there is no legal case). Short-term cash savings for long term cli ...
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