‘There is no Team Blue, Orange, Red or Green’: Premier Doug Ford discusses COVID-19 response with party leaders

It’s a sign of the times.

As Ontario’sinfections soar, Premier Doug Ford invited political rivals to huddle in his Queen’s Park office Wednesday to discuss the pandemic response.

“We have the best plan in the country and we are ready to respond as the situation on the ground changes,” Ford told reporters before the meeting with Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, Green Leader Mike Schreiner, and NDP MPP John Vanthof, standing in for leader Andrea Horwath.

“We have the best and the brightest minds working together on this. We have an army of front-line heroes helping to deliver this plan. But we’ll need everyone pulling in the same direction,” the premier said.

After the closed-door 45-minute meeting, Ford’s office called it a “productive discussion” that underscored “the importance of putting partisanship aside during this extremely difficult and unprecedented situation.”

“As the premier has said before, there is no Team Blue, Orange, Red or Green when it comes to the health and well-being of the people of Ontario. He pressed that a Team Ontario approach is crucial in our fight against the spread of COVID-19.”

Del Duca said he was encouraged that Ford agreed with his suggestion that “these Team Ontario meetings between the opposition leaders, premier and senior cabinet ministers should occur on a regular basis moving forward.”

Health Minister Christine Elliot, Finance Minister Rod Phillips, and Dr. David Williams, the chief medical officer of health, were also at the meeting.

The Liberal leader implored the premier “to focus on expanding lab capacity for testing (and) boost … pay for front-line workers in our nursing homes.”

Del Duca’s office said he and Ford “agreed that the pandemic should be the number one priority of all political parties and that more needs to be done to boost Ontario’s economic recovery.”

Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane) pinch hit for Horwath, who had a long-scheduled medical appointment.

“I have a lot of respect for the premier’s office and for the premier,” said the NDP’s deputy chief.

“But he was the one who brought up politics after insisting he doesn’t want to be partisan. He said he likes NDP supporters because they vote for him,” the MPP said.

“I didn’t mention a political party — he did,” said Vanthof.

On Twitter, Schreiner said he “voiced concerns from constituents about the delay in delivering a second wave plan.”

“I urged the premier to meet with the opposition again so we can work through ‪COVID-19 together.”

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: