Against the People - by Bryan Evans & Carlo Fanelli (Paperback)

About the Book

No-holds-barred exposure of Ford Nation giving billions to corporations and insecurity to everyone else.

Book Synopsis

The election of the Doug Ford-led Progressive Conservatives unleashed an aggressive and undisguised market fundamentalism. Ford's government has taken the assault against the social welfare state, labour and environmental protections to new and unprecedented heights. Maintaining a permanent era of austerity has not only steadily reduced the public sector as a proportion of the provincial economy but has also reduced the social protections available to Ontarians.

Ford's deregulatory agenda has explicitly degraded the quality of social provisioning and eroded labour rights to the benefit of business. From undermining the fiscal capacity to fund program expenditures adequately to reducing public sector employment and service levels, Ford Nation has reordered an array of ministries and agencies to boost business and development in general and the resource-extraction and investment sectors in particular. Tens of billions have been put back into the pockets of the business community, often directly out of public coffers. Few ministries and programs have been left unscathed. Most people have not benefited.

Against the People is the first book of its kind to provide an in-depth look into the devastating policies of the Ford government across a wide range of public policy issues: from health care, municipal, education and judicial restructuring, to economics, arts, labour, environmental, housing and Indigenous lands. Written by on-the-ground experts and focused on the Progressive Conservatives since coming to power in 2016, this book showcases the politics of dismantling a province.

Review Quotes

A powerful and insightful polemic on Doug Ford's six years in government. It is a must-read road map for the left in Canada in understanding working class conservatism and its appeal in the blue-collar communities of Oshawa, Hamilton, Timmins, and Sudbury.--Sid Ryan, former president, CUPE Ontario

Is Doug Ford's bumbling political incoherence his secret weapon? This angry, persuasive book highlights how he's built a uniquely effective--and Canadian--version of rightwing populism.--Rick Salutin, author and journalist

About the Author

Bryan Evans (Edited by)
Bryan Evans is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the Ontario office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His research focuses on political economy and public policy.

Carlo Fanelli (Edited by)
Carlo Fanelli is an associate professor of Work and Labour Studies, York University. He is the author of Megacity Malaise: Neoliberalism, Labour and Public Services in Toronto, co-author of From Consent to Coercion: The Continuing Assault Against Labour, and editor of Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research.