Actor Kiefer Sutherland wants Ontario Premier Doug Ford to stop using Sutherland’s grandfather, Tommy Douglas, as part of Ford’s “political agenda.”
“I personally find your comparison of your policies to his offensive,” Sutherland said in a Twitter post.
Sutherland appears to be referencing a Financial Post op-ed by Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s minister of children, community and social services, which Ford shared.
McLeod references Douglas’ 17 consecutive budget surpluses, “a record of fiscal achievement that has never been equaled.”
She likens his record to her Progressive Conservative government’s spring budget, in which she said her ministry found $850 million in savings while increasing spending on autism treatment, modernizing disability support and programs for children with special needs, strengthening support for veterans, preventing violence against women prevention and helping newcomers settle in Ontario.
“Put another way, it’s time to make government work for the people again — not the other way around. I think Tommy Douglas would approve,” she said.
The op-ed comes as the PCs look to repair the rift with parents furious over a redesigned autism funding model. The Ford government came under fierce criticism from autism funding advocates for their original program which gave all children with autism access to the same envelope of funding, which critics said left those with higher needs without adequate support.
Sutherland agreed with McLeod that his grandfather was fiscally responsible, and provided the province with paved roads, health care and electricity, but “it was never at the expense of social and human services to those in need,” he said.
