Oh, come on.  You thought it was over?  You thought that removing the Liberals was going to usher in a period of quiet, where Ford's seasoned team subtly guides him away from Trumpian excesses and the NDP continues to try and build on the gains they made?  Sorry to disappoint, but we're not through with the crazy by a long shot.

You can already see the storm clouds gathering, even as  Tabatha Southey dismissing the more moderate elements of the PC Party as Ford enablers.  Stephen Maher channeling the ghost of electoral reform.  Calls for Ford to deny the Liberals official party status.

Of course, Team PC is trying to put their best foot forward, by standing with Jason Kenney and Trudeau against Trump (he can't BE Trump if he OPPOSES Trump, right? right??????), by speaking out against anti-Israel rhetoric on al-Quds day, and by getting down to work with those high-profile, resume-strong MPP-elects in his new caucus.  All meant to calm the waters after a tumultuous election, and also to help the electorate forget all about those slow-boiling Ford scandals and lawsuits that cropped up during the campaign.

Unfortunately, these cooler heads within the PC fold overestimate their ability to prevail.  How soon they forget the Harper years, where everything the man did to advance his agenda was loudly opposed, and how soon they forget their own excesses of rhetoric during the 15 years of Liberal rule a learned habit which will be harder to break than they think despite being on the other side of the aisle.  Add to that Ford's learning curve if a curve is even possible with him and the likelihood that the PC's will do something, intentionally or otherwise, to make the anti-Ford forces rise up in full witch-hunt mode becomes higher and higher.

And even if Ford somehow pulls off the unlikely feat of out-Bill Davis-ing Bill Davis, those campaign scandals will no doubt be vigorously prosecuted by the new Opposition with the intent, or certainly the effect, of creating our very own Canadian knockoff of the Mueller investigation.

We'd all love to hope otherwise, but there is absolutely no chance the NDP will take the high road of quietly organizing, or working for the benefit of the province.  Instead, Ontarians will get all scandal-mongering, all the time.  Remember that, after a whole campaign spent trying to appear Ready To Lead, Andrea Horwath finally dropped the pretence and waded into the muck in the dying days of the campaign, commenting  to no discernable benefit and a possible loss on Renata Ford's lawsuit against Premier-to-be Doug.

Why?  For the same reason the commentariat is pulling at straws to find an explanation for how we got here.  The temptation to take partisan advantage proved too great.  The barely concealed hatred for Ford justified as it may be bled through.  And to be quite honest, it's better in the long run for the NDP to own their hatred of Doug Ford and the Ontari-archy he represents.

The PC's, whether they want to admit it or not, won because they owned what they were.  Whatever the PC Party of Ontario was in 1985, it is Doug Ford and Ford Nation now, for better or for worse.  And, perhaps it was Ford Nation, or whatever passed for Ford Nation, back in 1985, rather than the moderate paragon that nostalgia has made it out to be.  None remain who know, or will tell.

And the NDP, who in last week's election elected the woman who called a Toronto Police Chief a filthy, racist epithet, the Leap Manifesto endorser, the guy who held up the "F**k the Police" sign, and the woman who openly published stuff on her Tumbr that isn't too far away from the language used at Al-Quds Day, are much closer than they were before the writ dropped to being the NDP that they have always really been underneath their mask.

The province of Ontario has been ill-served in the past few decades by pretending it's something that it isn't.  Before it can dig itself out of the ditch, it needs to take a good, long, honest look in the mirror.  The longer spent delaying, the more times we'll lurch back from calm into chaos.

Written by Josh Lieblein

As leftists in the chattering classes continue to hyperventilate over Premier-designate Doug Ford and the PCs' resounding victory from last Thursday, cooler heads in Ontario are breathing a sigh of relief that we did not elect a radical NDP or Liberal government that would've plummeted us back into the Stone Age with crippling debt, if we aren't already irrevocably headed there.

Typical for them, left-wingers turned logic on its head and have declared Ford an unmitigated disaster for Ontario before he's even stepped into office.

First came the desperate attempts to delegitimize his win.  Before all the votes had been tabulated, many political observers from the left were saying the voter turnout was at an all-time low, even though the turnout number was still increasing as the votes were tabulated.  Eventually the final number showed the best turnout since 1999 at 58 per cent voter turnout.

Then came the calls for electoral reform because Ford and the PCs only managed to get 40.5 per cent of the popular vote, despite those same people cheering when Trudeau, Wynne and McGuinty won with slimmer margins. They also shrugged their shoulders when Trudeau decided to back out of his promise to change the first-past-the-post electoral system.

As hypocritical and nonsensical as those arguments were, the most convoluted argument coming from left-wing circles is that Ontario can't afford four years of Ford.  Sure, Ford didn't put out a fully costed platform, but neither, in reality, did the other two main parties.  The Liberals, after presenting a phony surplus budget last year, broke their promise to deliver a balanced budget come election time.  Currently the fourth highest budget expense is paying $12 billion in annual interest payments on our whopping $312 billion provincial debt.  They proposed running deficits for the next several years, ignoring the outrageous debt level we're currently in, instead suggesting we dig the hole even deeper.

The NDP were no better.  They put out a platform that had a $1.4 billion gap in it hiding in plain sight.  Their math was just as spotty in their proposal to buy back Hydro One, downplaying the true cost of buying back a ship that has long sailed.  Also, to make such an enormous purchase when the province is already up to its eyeballs in debt doesn't make any practical sense.  Then there were all the ways the NDP wanted to expand an already bloated government.

That being said, Ford likely over-promised as well.  His promises to cut taxes for the lower and middle classes, redistribute the province's $300 million Hydro One annual dividend to ratepayers instead of using it as a revenue stream, axe the carbon tax and cut business taxes all while maintaining balanced budgets, spending more on health care, giving childcare rebates, paying off the debt, investing in mental health and pouring billions into infrastructure projects sounds like a pipe dream.  Especially since the actual severity of Ontario's financial situation is likely much worse once Ford and his team get a chance to look at the books and bring it to light.

Nevertheless, Ford has been clear that he will find savings in government spending.  As he told me in an interview a couple short months ago, back when he was running for the PC leadership, he will find four cents on the dollar in savings.  What he hasn't been clear on is what what exactly are the inefficiencies he plans to weed out.  He's only said it won't involve government layoffs.

National Post columnist Andrew Coyne has pointed out in his previous columns that simply putting a hiring freeze in a growing province with growing annual revenue streams can actually be effective in helping balance budgets.  This, and salary freezes for public sector workers that make significantly more on average than the average private sector worker.  Then there are the many overpriced government contracts Ford can opt not to renew or get out of where possible.

The past few weeks many pundits, even on the right of the political aisle, have been reminiscing on how strong and well-versed Kathleen Wynne has been as Ontario's premier.  Part of the reason for this is that the Liberal government spent an excessive amount of money on making itself look good.  A Toronto Star column by former NDP strategist Robin Sears pointed out that Wynne's government had an excessive "578 tax-paid, politically exempt staff members at the time if its defeat."  Sears pointed out that a lot of these staff members were barely out of school and were better tasked for coming out with great talking points than coming up with well-researched policy plans.  Much of this former Liberal government was about style, not substance, nor getting down to brass tacks.

The following day after Wynne's defeat she addressed reporters one by one before giving a press conference.  She has always been good at working a room.

But Ontario doesn't need a premier that is easy to get along with and is good at giving a speech and memorizing talking points on different files.

No, this province needs someone not worried to take on the unions and other special interest groups that have for too long gotten their way and run roughshod over the overall financial well-being of Ontario.  Ford has shown he has no problem making adversaries and has pledged to clean up the province's books.  If he balances the books, knocks down the debt and gives Ontarians tax relief, the odd broken promise will just be water the bridge.  He has a daunting four years ahead of him.

Written by Graeme C. Gorodn