A hot mic has caught a group of Simcoe County councilors mocking Ontario Premier Doug Ford during a special budget meeting held online on Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred after county clerks began broadcasting the live feed from the video conference prematurely. Without realizing he was on air, Warden Basil Clarke warned other participants, “I’ve got you on the big screen, but you’ll get a good view up my nose every time I have to look up at it. So, I apologize for that.”
“Maybe the premier would love to see it,” replied Severn Mayor Mike Burkett.
“Wait a minute – he doesn’t know where we are,” added Severn Deputy Mayor Judith Cox. “Aren’t we a region?”
“Well, I’ll have to go to him, unfortunately,” said Clarke before Burkett could ask, “We’re not live, are we?”
“No,” Clarke said, with undue confidence just as Midland Mayor Bill Gordon quipped: “The tint must be too dark on [the premier’s] SUV when he’s heading up to the cottage.”
The comments appeared to reference ones made by the premier during a recent press scrum. On Friday, Ford chastised Simcoe council members for voting to raise their own salaries by 167 per cent.
In the same speech, the premier also referred to the county as a “region” and questioned its value as a legislative body.
“I don’t even know why we have the region — but [that’s neither] here nor there,” the premier told reporters.
The decision to raise salaries from $17,000 to $47,700 in 2027 was ratified by the council on the basis of a recommendation from its governance committee. The group concluded that unless its members received more compensation, it would not be able to attract younger and less established candidates to run for election.
For context, according to 2024 budgets, a regional neighbouring municipality currently compensates their councillors $68,000 per year and another smaller Ontario County compensates councillors $47,000 per year, while also balancing time in their local municipalities. Ontario MPPs make a base salary of $116,000 and MPs make more than $200,000, working fulltime.
According to Gordon, who responded to a request for comment, the statements about the premier were not meant to be taken seriously.
“I have no doubt Premier Ford knows about Simcoe County as we are the host of the largest automotive investment in history, and he and his team know all about Honda, Alliston and the County of Simcoe.”
He added that the premier’s own statements should also be taken with a pinch of salt. “I took his comments as venting frustrations about questionable spending by some school boards and the compensation change our council just approved[.]
Gordon, who along with Cox and several other members voted against the pay rise, also added that several of his own constituents had written to to express their anger at the move him despite his opposition to it. “However, that decision has been made by council and we collectively support our decisions, even ones we voted against.”
The mayor added that it seemed unlikely Ford would allow his feathers to be ruffled. “‘He seems to have a good sense of humour and loves to go off script and speak off the cuff.”
Clarke also responded to a request for comment. According to a statement provided to the Barrie Compass, the warden described the back-and-forth about the premier as evidence of the “passion and dedication” the politicians had for their county and communities.
“I’d like to apologize on behalf of our council for the remarks. While light-hearted, our council is committed to setting the bar high for ourselves as community leaders. As mayors and deputy mayors of our local municipalities, we know how valuable our regional services, programs and investments are to our communities, our residents and our partnerships with the province.”
