Scott Stinson: Doug Ford says he's not endorsing Olivia Chow for mayor, and if it sounds like he did, he's taking it back - National Post
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is joined by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow at a press conference in Toronto, on Thursday June 4, 2026. Photo by Peter Power/Postmedia/FileArticle contentWhat are words, anyway, and what do they mean?
We are left to ponder these existential questions after the events of this week, when Ontario Premier Doug Ford almost-but-not-quite endorsed Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow in her re-election campaign and then, a day and a half later, said he had done no such thing.
By Friday morning, Ford had found a predictable source for the confusion: the media, which had incorrectly interpreted his words as meaning what they are generally accepted to mean.
Along the way, we received some insight into the curious politics of the Toronto mayoral race, where various Tory operatives are helping Brad Bradford in his campaign to defeat Chow, who Ford once feared would be a “disaster” for the city but who he has since come to like. So much so that it seems to have gotten him into some trouble.
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Let us recap: On Wednesday morning, at a press event at a biomedical facility in North York with a passel of politicians present, Mark McAllister of CityNews asked Chow about progress on a new funding deal between the city and the province and also asked Ford for his thoughts on the mayoral race, while noting that he “had not endorsed anyone to this point.” (Questions are limited at these events, so the double-barrelled query is a veteran move.)
Ford responded that he had “a phenomenal relationship” with Chow. He said phenomenal again, in case anyone missed it the first time. “We’re going to continue supporting the mayor. She’s doing an incredible job,” he said. “So, read between the lines.”
This was dutifully reported as an effective endorsement or a quasi-endorsement, and other things along those lines. (I wrote in that day’s column that it was “not an endorsement, exactly,” but “close.”)
Perhaps some media outlets dropped some of those qualifiers in follow-up reports, but you know who definitely did? The campaign for Brad Bradford, which hissed in a statement that “of course the premier endorsed Olivia Chow” because “she’s the easiest negotiation he has ever had.” It went on to say that she “handed over on a silver platter” things she had vowed to oppose.
