Doug Ford, who is struggling in public-opinion polls, insists federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is not “distancing himself” from an unpopular Ontario premier with an election looming.Ford told reporters Friday in Kitchener that he has a “good” rapport with Scheer.“I’ve talked to Andrew and I’m the premier of Ontario and I’ve got to worry about Ontario. I’m not getting involved in this election,” he said.Asked why Scheer — who did an event at Mount Sinai Hospital last Friday that was 850 metres from the premier’s office at Queen’s Park and refused to even mention his name despite being asked repeatedly about him — Ford shrugged.“I don’t know about distancing himself. You can say that about me, too. You could say I’m distancing myself from the federal government and this election,” the premier said.“I’m not interested in this election. I’m interested in Ontario.”With voters headed to the polls on Oct. 21, Ford decreed that the provincial legislature, which had been scheduled to resume Sept. 9, will not return until Oct. 28.Scheer’s campaign team had hoped that would keep the premier out of the daily media cycle.Read more:Has Doug Ford finally put the cronyism scandal behind him? Ford dismisses poor poll numbers because some of them appeared in the StarBut the Ford’s penchant for grabbing headlines has a tendency to swamp the more low-key federal leader’s message.Indeed on Friday, the premier doubled down on controversial comments he made last month about the mentally ill that had troubled federal Tory strategists.Saying he has “no sympathy” even for those found not criminally responsible for violent acts due to their mental illness, the premier said such patients should be “dealt with in jail.”Ford was referring to Zhebin Cong, a Centre for Addiction and Mental Health patient who fled ...
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