'Gutting and carving....labour rights': Premier Doug Ford faces backlash for Halloween pumpkin carving as Ontario struggles

Elisabetta Bianchini
Updated ·3 min read
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'Gutting and carving....labour rights': Premier Doug Ford faces backlash for Halloween pumpkin carving as Ontario struggles
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford is celebrating Halloween by teaching us all about pumpkin carving, one of his "favourite family traditions."

"When I was growing up and we'd get together and we'd have a pumpkin carving contest, and everyone would carve their pumpkin," Ford says in the video posted on social media. "I carried that tradition on with my four girls."

The premier then goes on to show, step by step, his pumpkin carving process, including a recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds.

"Full disclosure, I'm not a pumpkin carver," Ford says.

Remembering back to his younger days, the premier says he would often make a costume with things from around the house, including dressing up as Batman for one Halloween.

Have you every wondered what Ford's favourite Halloween movie is? Now we know, he's partial to Halloween and Friday the 13th.

The video ends with the premier telling kids to get their parents to check their candy after trick-or-treating.

"The best quality control people you could ever get is get your dad, or your mom, grandfather, grandmother, to do the quality control check," Ford says. "That was my job with the kids and I'd always make sure the first one was really good."

As is expected, many people on social media have responded to the premier's video, including Canadian filmmaker and actor Sarah Polley.

Local politicians, health workers and other Ontarians also commented on the video, particularly that it was posted on the day that the Ontario government will table legislation to prevent a strike by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) education workers, as emergency departments in Ontario hospitals struggle to operate due to reaching capacity limits, and after fighting against a summons to testify at Ottawa's Emergencies Act inquiry.