michael ford

Everyone in Ontario is making fun of Doug Ford's nephew after slip-up during big speech

While Ontario Premier Doug Ford is always a reliable source of often inadvertently hilarious one-liners during his press conference appearances, his nephew, Michael Ford, may have outdone him with one very embarrassing slip-up while speaking to tens of thousands of people over the weekend.

The younger Ford, who formerly served as a Toronto City Councillor, was elected as the MPP for York South-Weston in June, and then appointed as Ontario's Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism by his uncle.

The Premier received a ton of backlash for the decision, with many calling out his nepotism and arguing the role should be held by anyone but a white, Ontario-born man who has such little firsthand knowledge of the immigrant experience.

And, Michael's fumble on Saturday did not exactly help his case.

Speaking at a religious celebration in Ahmedabad, India — on a trip to the country that was funded by taxpayers — the minister misspoke during his speech about the "strong and vibrant" relationship between Ontario and India, saying that he is "proud that Ontario is home to over 900 people from India" when he meant to say "900,000."

It's a seemingly innocent error that anyone could make while reading in front of a large crowd, but, of course, social media is running with it. 

Many are dunking on the younger Ford's intelligence and suitability for his position, and also on the older Ford for selecting Michael for the post when some would argue he is unqualified.

There are also, of course, a bevy of jokes about the much smaller settings in Ontario where the minister could come across 900 people from India: living on their residential street, riding on a Mississauga bus, or at Bramalea City Centre "literally this second."

There were also responses like "it's a shock to realize he must have been picked for his looks," "I know people make mistakes but OMG," and "India is sending their brightest to be governed by our worst" amid hundreds of replies and quote tweets of a clip from the speech that was shared to Twitter last night.

And, of course, there are a slew of nepo baby comments, given that everyone has seemingly just discovered the concept in recent weeks.

Quite a few people are pointing out, though, that Ford isn't technically wrong, as there are more than 900 people from India living in Ontario, even if it is way more.

And, though he didn't acknowledge and correct his mistake, he did lose his place and began to re-read the same line again, picking himself back up at the figure, which he correctly read as 900,000 the second time around.

Unfortunately for the perhaps-nervous Ford, it wasn't the only screw-up during his talk; before citing the 900 Ontario residents who are from India, he stated that "on behalf of Premier Ford and the Government of Ontario, we would cordinarilly [sic] invite his Holiness, if able, to come up to Toronto."

Lead photo by

@PSM100yrs


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