What a difference a year makes.This time last year, Doug Ford was probably best known as the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s older brother.Ford was a former one-term Toronto city councillor gearing up for a second mayoral bid against John Tory, who had defeated him in 2014 thanks largely to his kid brother’s controversial legacy.Patrick Brown was the leader of the Progressive Conservatives and, with polls suggesting voters were fed up with Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals, the presumptive next premier of Ontario .Fast forward 12 months and Ford, 54, is the rookie of the year in Canadian politics after Brown was forced to resign following an alleged sex scandal.A first-time MPP for Etobicoke North who became premier on his first foray into provincial politics, Ford led the Tories back to power after almost 15 years of Liberal rule.While Ford didn’t do any year-end interviews — “It wasn’t my tradition,” he said when asked why — he did share his thoughts on his eventful 2018 at a year-end news conference, calling it a “great year.”Ford emphasized that his proudest achievement of the year — even more than his come-from-behind victory over front-runner Christine Elliott in the March 10 Tory leadership race and his massive majority win in the June 7 election — was “saving taxpayers money.”Indeed, he was on form when tackling affordability issues like reducing gasoline prices, lowering the minimum legal price of beer to $1 a bottle and scrapping Drive Clean emissions tests for passenger vehicles. Ontario’s unemployment rate, the lowest in Canada since last year under Wynne, is also a source of pride for the new premier.“For anyone who is physically and mentally capable, they can get a job. There’s thousands of jobs. That’s all I hear. Everywhere I go: jobs, jobs, jobs. Everywhere, people are hiring. My friends, there’s huge opportunities to get out there,̶ ...
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