TORONTO — No aspect of Canadian life has been left untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic, including politics, and pundits agree the premier of Ontario is one of those most transformed by the outbreak.
Doug Ford, a divisive player on the regional stage long before becoming an equally polarizing national figure, has been turning heads since it became clear that Canada would not be spared the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But many of those heads, once likely to be thrown back in dismay, are now bestowing nods of approval. Gone is the pugnacious partisanship and populist rhetoric that opponents once used to compare Ford to U.S.