Doug Ford and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party are hosting FordFest on in Scarborough Friday.
The original Ford Fest tradition dates back nearly 30 years. They were a staple of the Ford political brand when the premier and his brother, Rob Ford, were at Toronto City Hall, and the Ford family had been hosting summer parties since the mid-'90s, back in Doug Ford Sr.'s days as an MPP.
This year, the party is organized through the PC party and attendees must register to attend; those who do are asked if they want to make a donation to the PC party.
But the event is free to attend and will offer free hamburgers, veggie burgers, hotdogs, and rides.
This year's party is being held at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough. It's just outside of the border of the riding of Scarborough—Guildwood, where there will be a byelection later this year thanks to the resignation of Liberal Mitzie Hunter, who is now running for mayor of Toronto.
The premier's pick for mayor, former PC candidate and Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, is using the party to call on Conservative-leaning voters to rally behind him in the race to defeat the front-runner, Oliva Chow.
"Saunders called on members of Ford Nation, in advance of Ford Fest, to roll up their sleeves and help get out the vote for Monday’s election," his team said in a press release Friday.
"Saunders is calling on everyone who doesn’t want Olivia Chow to be mayor to unite behind his campaign, because Saunders is how you Stop Chow."
He continued by thanking "all the members of Ford Nation" for their support and then targeted voters who are planning to support Anthony Furey, Mitzie Hunter and Brad Bradford.
“Anthony is a good man and has run a good campaign. Brad has delivered important messages in this race. Mitzie has long been a champion for Scarborough. But in our system, only one of two people can win on Monday: me or Olivia Chow,” said Saunders. “So I need you to do the one thing Olivia Chow doesn’t want you to do and that’s vote for me on Monday.”
Earlier in the week, the premier pivoted away from his plan to stay out of the race and said he was voting for Saunders. He then said a Chow mayoralty would be "an unmitigated disaster," predicting she'd implement huge property tax raise and business "are terrified" and would "flee Toronto."
