Ford shows indifference to his own MPPs

Greed is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins — so distasteful it distorts our thinking.

- MARTIN REGG COHN

So when Doug Ford casually lashed out at Jagmeet Singh the other day, accusing him of greedily lusting after a parliamentary pension, it was a low blow.

Not because it wounded the federal NDP leader. Perched in Ottawa, Singh is probably impervious to the premier’s pugnacity.

No, Ford’s words sounded a death knell for the secret hopes of his long-suffering fellow Tories at Queen’s Park who quietly worry about money. Unlike the premier, who was born into wealth and inherited a job for life at the family firm before running for politics, backbenchers from all parties are mindful of their financial insecurities.

Little wonder Ford likes to boast that he’s not in it for the money. He’s been swimming in it from birth.

“There’s nothing more important to these greedy politicians than collecting a pension,” the premier proclaimed with righteous wrong-headedness this week.

“Let’s face it, he wants his pension,” Ford said dismissively of Singh when asked if the NDP might force an early federal election. “There’s him and a whole bunch of other politicians that want to grab the taxpayers’ money” by holding out until they qualify for generous pensions.

Allow me to push back against Ford’s penchant for pressing our buttons about money-grubbing, greedy politicos. Let me remind the premier that not everyone inherits a motherlode from his father.

I’ve watched politicians up close since I was a cub reporter decades ago. Based on my own unscientific survey, I can tell you that people don’t go into public office to get rich.