By Pepper Parr
February 14th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Who knew?
The Toronto Star reported on comments Premier Doug Ford made at the London Police Service’s sold-out inaugural “chief’s gala appreciation dinner and awards night” — which was not listed on Ford’s daily campaign itinerary provided to reporters at Queen’s Park — was obtained by the Star.
Doug Ford took his tough-on-crime talk to new heights in a campaign speech where he pushed for a return to capital punishment, the Star has learned.
Musing about stiffer penalties for home invaders who kill victims, the Progressive Conservative leader called for changes in the federal Criminal Code that would empower judges to “send ‘em right to sparky.”
As of August 2024, 163 people have been executed by electrocution in the United States since 1976. The last execution by electric chair was in Tennessee in 2020
The colloquial reference to the electric chair came two weeks ago on the first day of Ford’s snap Feb. 27 Ontario election campaign, now at its midway point.
“God forbid they kill an innocent person,” Ford said Jan. 29 to an audience of about 1,000 law enforcement, legal types, politicians and business people at the downtown RBC Place in London.
He was referring to his frustration with the alarming trend of violent home invasion robberies.
“I don’t even go 25 years. I send ‘em right to sparky and then we’ll take everything from there,” he added to sparse clapping and audible gasps in an audience that had moments earlier given him hearty applause for promising a $1-billion rebuild of the aging Ontario Police College in nearby Aylmer.
“We need to straighten out all these criminals … Sorry for sidetracking, I just had to vent a little bit,” Ford continued.
“Hopefully when a new government comes in, I think the provinces should take over some of the Criminal Code,” he told the London crowd, taking shots at judges and justices of the peace who grant bail to repeat offenders in a call for tougher bail reform.
“I want pro-police, hard-on-crime JPs,”
“I want pro-police, hard-on-crime JPs,” Ford said. “We do have some good JPs. We have some really good judges, too. But from previous administrations and governments, we have some terrible JPs, terrible judges that actually let these criminals back out.”
A lawyer who attended the event said the crowd was taken aback by the “sparky” line.
“The whole room seemed uncomfortable,” added the lawyer, who is known to the Star but requested anonymity to speak freely. “I felt like I was in a bit of an alternate reality. I felt like I was in the States. It felt very Trumpian.”
Canada abolished capital punishment in 1976, replacing it with mandatory life sentences with no parole for at least 25 years in cases of first-degree murder.
Ontario now knows what it will get should they return Doug Ford as Premier in the February 27th provincial election.
Having spent nine months on and off a jury trial for murder followed by sequestration I will offer a perspective.
Dealing with 11 of your peers on such a matter you will find a few have difficulty deciding what colour shirt to wear in the morning much determining guilt or innocence as the judge instructs. Jury members have to be reminded that they do not determine sentence.
I ended up believing the courts would obtain fewer convictions if a death penalty was on the table which surprised me.
I and others moved towards leniency with a resolve however that a sentence should be the sentence in many cases which is certainly not the case today. I also strongly believe that in certain criminal acts it should be considered as a possible sentence.
By the way on our trial 2 jurors convinced the other 9 over a week of sequestration that the accused was guilty. We lost one juror.
This turned out to be a retrial and the accused was a member of a notorious biker gang was returned to prison. His father ran a biker safe house for years in Hamilton. Took his kid on his chopper to school every day before taking his shift in a well known steel mill.
All of this said having worked for four steel companies amongst employees that would members of various organized criminal groups I never really felt as unsafe as I believe Canadian society is today with the kind of animals that are on the loose and who often and routinely released.
Unbelievable! Has Ford never heard of Steven Truscott? In September 1959 he was sentenced to hang and was later exonerated. My wife and I knew Mac Stienburg who was Steven’s parol officer in Kinston. He was with Steven in the Kingston pen the night of Jan. 21, 1960 awaiting to hear if Diefenbaker had commuted his sentence to life imprisonment, otherwise, he would hang. Fortunately his sentence was commuted or an innocent person would have been murdered, unwittingly, by the Crown. The Truscott conviction was just one of the many reasons capital punishment was abolished. Ford needs to learn some recent history. Ford’s comments should not be treated as a quip. He is the Premier and expressing this thought is abhorbant.
For the record, I do not support capital punishment. But Ford’s comment was, indeed, a quip and a fairly well aimed one. The court system is badly broken. We even have one member of our Supreme Court who was not even a judge. Do you feel safer today than you did 20 years ago?
First of all, Truscott was NOT exonerated by the Ontario Court of Appeal who stated that although the “new” evidence surrounding the time of death pointed to a time of death later than 8 pm (in which case Truscott was not guilty), the evidence didn’t rule out the possibility of death prior to 8 pm. The Court of Appeal did find Truscott “not guilty”; the Court of Appeal began hearing the new evidence in mid-2006. A year later, it acquitted Truscott outright, in part because it said a fair retrial would be impossible so many years after the fact.
Speaking personally, I’ve never had any doubt, taking ALL of the evidence into account (not just the time of death) and doubting Truscott’s credibility on some key points, that Truscott was guilty. Having said that, the Truscott case is one in which the death penalty was not appropriate given the lack of definitive evidence proving his guilt. Of course, had this crime taken place in 2025, this verdict would have been a slam dunk given the DNA evidence at the crime scene (sadly, the evidence containing DNA was either too degraded or missing) at the time of the appeal.
Is there no humour left in our far left, hyper-sensitive society? Honestly, let’s not forget that capital punishment comes under federal jurisdiction and is only recommended for politicians and journalists.
Ford’s remark reminds me of the quip made decades ago by John MacKay, then Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a particularly embarrassing loss, a sports reporter asked MacKay “what he thought about the execution of his team”? Mackay immediately responded with “I think that it’s a very good idea”.
Well said Blair.hard to keep a sense of humour these days but those who do have our admiration. Don’t see much to smile at in the media these days but will keep trying to find the odd one that pops up.
Like his idol Donald Trump, Ford’s mouth once again supersedes his brain. To propose a form of punishment that is not only appalling but frankly, medieval and barbaric, is beyond the pale.
It’s a dicey subject, I get it, but maybe there’s some merit to the idea. Criminals nowadays seem to have lost a sense of fear. If the worst thing that can happen to them is that they’re put in time out with free room and board on the shoulders of the Canadian taxpayers, is it any wonder crime and violence is on the rise? What’s the deterrent?
Maybe in the most extreme situations there is still a place for capital punishment. Make an example and make it clear that certain behaviour will not be tolerated. Criminals who displayed no hesitation in going medieval and barbaric on their victims should be given the same treatment in return. Paul Bernardo for example has benefitted greatly from our collective weakness.
There are similarities (albeit on a very different scale) with how society looks down upon those who spank their children. Let’s be clear, spanking is very different than beating or abuse. Some will disagree with that statement, but I stand by it. I don’t condone beating or abuse, but spanking can be a very effective parenting tool. I was spanked as a child when I deserved it, and I turned out okay. I still loved my parents, and have zero regrets or negative feelings about my childhood. Those lessons served me well and set me up for success as an adult. I am thankful for being raised the way I was. Sometimes saying “Hey buddy, you shouldn’t do that, please go stand in the corner for a few minutes for daddy, would you please” to a spoiled child carrying on and exhibiting unacceptable behaviour just doesn’t get the job done like a swift stinger across the backside. Your children while under the age of 18 are not your friends, they are your responsibility. You either teach them and ready them for this world, or you don’t.
We’ve gotten soft. Discipline, punishment, and most of all respect are sorely lacking these days. Without consequences, there is no motivation to do better.
The world stinks and an environmentally friendly no animals harmed in the making of natural ingredient only deodorant that doesn’t irritate your sensitive skin just isn’t cutting it.
I’m with Ford on this one.
Stupid and regressive..Trump must love this.no wonder Ford hoped he’d win the election.