Who is Doug Ford? Everything You Need to Know

Doug Ford was born Douglas Robert Ford, on November 20, 1964, in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, to Doug Bruce and Ruth Diane. His grandparents had immigrated to Canada from England. He was born into a highly influential family. His father owned a successful business of his own. Doug was the second-born child in the family and grew up with two brothers and a sister.

Following his early education, he joined the ‘Scarlett Heights Collegiate Institute.’ He graduated after 5 years, in 1983. Since his teenage years, he was aware that he had to join his father’s business. He thus joined the ‘Humber College’ to study business management. However, he dropped out of college later and started working in his father’s business.

A recent investigation, conducted by ‘The Globe and Mail,’ concluded that Doug had a shady past and sold Hashish (a drug) at ‘James Gardens’ for several years during his college years. Doug, however, denied the allegations and threatened to sue the newspaper for defamation, though he never did it.

After dropping out of college, he joined his father’s company, ‘Deco Labels and Tags.’ The company made pressure-sensitive labels for plastic-wrapped grocery products. The company was started in the early 1960s, and by the time Doug joined it in the early 1990s, it had recorded a turnover worth millions.

Ford soon began managing the company, along with his parents and brothers. In 2002, he was made the president of the company. His duties involved working toward the expansion of the company in Chicago, U.S.A. As his father’s health deteriorated, he divided the company shares among Doug and his two brothers. Doug managed to get 40% shares of the company.

In the late 2000s, he purchased a company named ‘Wise Tag and Label,’ which had its center of operations in New Jersey. However, the economic recession of 2008 proved to be detrimental to the newly established company, and it ended up losing more than a million. Doug fired ‘Wise Tag’s manager. A lawsuit was filed against him. The company has been struggling since then, while ‘Deco Labels and Tags,’ of which Doug is a director, has been flourishing.

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Political Career

Doug’s first stint in politics was through politician Doug Holyday, who approached ‘Deco’ to produce stickers for his mayoral election campaign. Doug assisted his father and his brother Rob Ford in their mayoral campaigns.

Doug made his official foray into local politics in 2010, when he was elected as a councilor to the ‘Toronto City Council’ (Ward 2). His brother became the mayor of Toronto during the same time. After getting elected, Doug proclaimed that he would be donating his annual salary of $100,000 to several organizations that work toward community development.

He was also a board member of ‘Build Toronto.’ He also served in many important positions in the ‘Budget Committee,’ the ‘Canadian National Exhibition,’ the ‘Civic Appointments Committee,’ and the ‘Government Management Committee at Council.’

In 2014, the re-elections for the councilor were supposed to take place, but Doug announced in 2013 that he would not run for a re-election. The reason behind this decision was his contempt of municipal politics back then. However, it was assumed that Doug would contest for the leadership of the ‘Progressive Conservative Party.’ Doug also met top party leaders but denied any plans of running for the local provincial elections. He said that he would focus on his brother’s re-election campaign instead.

However, things changed in May 2014, when his brother Rob entered a drug rehabilitation center. Doug accepted that he was thinking of running for mayor. His brother returned from rehab and continued his campaign, but he opted out again after he was diagnosed with an abdominal tumor. Doug filled the form of his candidature in the final hours.

Doug lost the election but stated that he wished to stay in politics. He also announced that he wanted to run for the mayoral election of 2018, but he later opted out, saying that he aspired to be the ‘Progressive Conservative Party’ leader from the province of Ontario.

In March 2018, Doug won the leadership elections and became the ‘Progressive Conservative Party’ leader from Ontario. Doug contested in the 2018 general elections, promising that he would review the sex-education policies and improve the manufacturing sector in Ontario. He also had a conservative stand on abortion and said that in case young girls decided to abort their pregnancy, their parents’ approval would be needed.

The media compared Doug to U.S. President Donald Trump. However, Doug rejected the similarities, in spite of praising some of Trump’s policies. The ‘Progressive Party’ won the elections held in June 2018.

On June 29, 2018, Doug was sworn in as the premier of the province of Ontario. Ford served as the party leader for less than 100 days before he won the premiership election.

He took a strong stand on sex education and also canceled the ‘Green Ontario Fund.’ He also announced that schools would be adapting the 1998 curriculum for sex education and the more progressive 2015 curriculum would be canceled.

He also reduced the size of the ‘Toronto City Council’ and privatized the sale of cannabis. He took extremely bold decisions quite early, which made his popularity soar. He also canceled the ‘Drive Clean’ program and focused on heavy-duty vehicles, as they emit less pollutants. He also increased the funding of the police department.

He was also dragged into many political patronage controversies and was blamed for using his position for the benefit of his party members and family friends.

In the national political scenario, he is a staunch supporter of the ‘Conservative Party’ of Canada. He also openly expressed his support for the ‘United States Republican Party’ and President Donald Trump.

Family & Personal Life

Doug Ford is married to Karla Middlebrook and has four daughters with her.

As a teenager, he worked in a meatpacking plant. Back then, he became an ethical vegetarian. However, over the years, he began consuming non-vegetarian food. Nevertheless, he still stays away from red meat.

In 2016, he co-authored a book titled ‘Ford Nation: Two Brothers, One Vision,’ with his brother Rob Ford.

After Rob’s death, his widow filed a lawsuit, blaming Doug of depriving her and her children of the compensation that they were supposed to receive. Doug attacked back, saying that her lawsuit had come in the same week as the 2018 ‘Ontario Election’ and thus amounted to an extortion attempt.

Doug Ford Biography