Douglas Bruce Ford Sr. (February 27, 1933 – September 22, 2006) was a Canadian businessman and politician for the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1995 to 1999 who represented the riding of

Etobicoke—Humber Humber was a provincial electoral district (riding) in Ontario, Canada. It was created prior to the 1955 provincial election from parts of the York West and York South ridings. It was eliminated in 1996, when most of its territory was incorporated ...

. He was the father of former

Toronto Mayor The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

, and the incumbent

Premier of Ontario The premier of Ontario (french: premier ministre de l'Ontario) is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly of On ...

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...

Background

Ford was born in 1933 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, the son of Celia (McNicol 1900-1973) and Ernest Ford (1889-1933), a Home Child, both immigrants from England. He grew up in the Danforth area of

East York, Ontario East York is a former administrative district and municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a semi-autonomous borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toron ...

. The youngest of nine children (brother Henry Edsel died at age 6 in 1935 and sister died under age of 1 in 1923), he was raised by a single mother following his father's death in 1933. Ford was a businessman who, along with Ted Herriott, co-founded Deco Labels & Tags Limited of

Rexdale Rexdale is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located north-west of the central core, in the district of Etobicoke. Rexdale defines an area of several official neighbourhoods north of Highway 401 (Ontario), Highway 401 and east of Highway ...

in 1962. Ford and his wife, Diane, had four children: Kathy, Randy, Doug and Rob. Several of Ford's descendants went on to have careers in politics. Rob Ford served as

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

from 2010 to 2014, and also represented Ward 2 (

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

North) on

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

from 2000 to 2010 and again from 2014 until his death in 2016.Rob Ford family tree
at torontolife.com The older Doug represented Ward 2 on Toronto Council from 2010 to 2014 (while Rob was serving as Mayor), then later sought the mayoral chair himself in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

(finishing second to

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

), and then was elected leader of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. Subsequently, Doug led the Conservatives to a majority government in the

2018 Ontario general election The 2018 Ontario general election was held on June 7, 2018, to elect the 124 members of the 42nd Parliament of Ontario. The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, won 76 of the 124 seats in the legislature and formed a majo ...

. Ford's grandson, Michael Ford, was elected to the Ward 2 council seat following Rob Ford's death.

Politics

Ford was elected to the provincial legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Jim Henderson by about 4,500 votes in

. For the next four years, he sat as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

's government. In 1996, the Harris government reduced the number of provincial ridings from 130 to 103, a change which forced some sitting MPPs from the same party to fight one another for re-nomination. Ford challenged

Chris Stockwell Chris Stockwell (March 9, 1957 – February 10, 2018) was a Canadian politician from Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, and served as Speaker of the legislature and cabi ...

for the Progressive Conservative nomination in the newly created riding of Etobicoke Centre. Despite support from

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...

and others in cabinet, he was defeated.

Later life

Ford retired from politics after his election defeat and returned to running his business. He died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

in 2006, only six weeks after his diagnosis. A park, formerly named Weston Wood Park, on

Royal York Road Royal York Road, historically known as Church Street or New Church Street, is a north-south arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 5 concessions (10 km) west of Yonge Street, and runs through many residential ne ...

was renamed Douglas B. Ford Park in 2010 in his honour. The small park has a playground and trees adjacent to Humber River. The Ford family is located very near to the park. Ford is buried at Riverside Cemetery, which is near the park named in his honour. His wife Diane Ruth Campbell died of cancer in January 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Doug Sr. 1933 births 2006 deaths Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian company founders Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from colorectal cancer People from East York, Toronto People from Etobicoke Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Canadian people of English descent Ford political family