Would you look at that, Premier Doug Ford.

It still has a bit of that unreal quality to it, as though by seeming like it shouldn't have happened, the mind decides it cannot have happened.  Alas, it is real.

Ford will be premier, and it is all the fault of the Liberal Party.

By the end of their 15 years in power, the people of the province were fed up with the party and ready to give their votes to basically anyone running un the Progressive Conservative banner.  A sentient sack of potatoes could have won.  The proof of this is Ford will be premier.

There was a moment in one of the debates where Ford asked Wynne where she lost her way.  In that moment, it seemed like a silly question to me.  She was able to dance around it, and talk about how good her party was.

But, looking back, I think it's fair to say it was right on the money.  Because people sensed, in a sort of in-their-bones kind of way, that somewhere along the line something changed for Wynne.  The obvious turning point, the one that did it for me, was the sell off of Hydro One.  It was a ploy for quick cash, and so transparently so.

Their campaign was just as bad.  The last ditch attempt to hang onto a few seats, by Wynne declaring she would not be premier, and that only a handful of Liberals could hold a Ford government to account was absurd hair-splitting.  Asking voters to vote their opponents into a minority government is at best wishful thinking.  This was not the best outcome, though.  Instead, by keeping negative focus on the NDP, the Liberals almost certainly guaranteed a PC victory.

It's easy to imagine the boost the NDP would have received if Wynne had said not only was she not going to be premier, but Ontarians should vote for a progressive party that can win.  Of curse, this is imaginary, because that's not the world we live in.  Instead we got a final week of warnings the NDP would be bad for York University students because they'd let a strike continue.

But this is the problem at the heart of the Liberal rot.  As a party, they would always find a way to make things about holding power.  For all the good the party did — and it did do quite a bit of good — there was always some element in their policy building that left the stench of power thirst.  Whether it was fights with the auditor general, or giving hydro discounts right out of the provincial treasury, at the end of the day everything was done to benefit the party in some way.

And it's too bad.  Wynne showed through this campaign that she would have made a fine candidate in different circumstances.  She was well-spoken and knew what she was talking about.  She showed flashes of a real and authentic spirit of public service.  You do have to feel for Wynne watching her speech on election night stepping down as leader.  This loss clearly hurt.  As a last speech, it made for a graceful exit.

Finally freed from the burden of winning votes, there were no more half measures.  And when she finally got around to announcing she was leaving as leader, she nearly broke down and cried.  It was moving.

But when it was over, cold reality remained.  Ford was still going to be premier.  She was a Liberal.  And because of this, because of the baggage train following the Liberal Party around, Doug Ford became inevitable.

It didn't matter that Ford didn't know what he was talking about.  It didn't matter that his promises couldn't add up.  It didn't matter he was being sued by his saintly dead brother's widow.  It didn't matter he was obviously over his head.  He wasn't a Liberal, and that was enough.

The next four years are unlikely to be fun.  Ford's brand of bull-headed lunacy will make for a spectacle, but it won't make for good governance.  Those days are gone for now in Ontario.  And for that, you can thank the Liberals.