Can Ford flip the script on spending?

Cagey Carney

GRAVY GUT CHECK

TRIPLE THREAT — Premier DOUG FORD has called a September 3 byelection triple-header in Scarborough Southwest, Hamilton East–Stoney Creek and York–Simcoe — giving voters their first chance to weigh in after a bruising summer for his government.

Ford waited until the legal buzzer to call Scarborough Southwest, then lumped in the seats vacated by former cabinet ministers NEIL LUMSDEN and CAROLINE MULRONEY this summer.

The strategy: Scarborough Southwest is a longshot for the PCs, York–Simcoe is the must-hold and Hamilton is the wildcard. If they hold blue territory and avoid a blowout elsewhere, Ford can argue it’s business as usual.

Critics are pitching something bigger: a three-riding referendum on a government expense scandal that cost STAN CHO his cabinet gig (though he remains in caucus) and has put Ford’s taxpayer-watchdog brand on the ropes, according to a recent string of polling.

Pivot! The PCs are now trying to flip the script from what their MPPs spent to what the…