Here's why Doug Ford won't replace Pierre Poilievre as federal leader...

The rumour that Ford wants the top federal job just won't die.

Doug Ford wants to replace Pierre Poilievre.

That’s the rumour.

Here’s why I think that’s very unlikely to happen.

Every time that there is speculation that Pierre Poilievre might be in trouble or that someone might be trying to push him out as leader of the Federal Conservative Party, speculation turns to Doug Ford, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative premier.

Plenty of people think Doug Ford wants to be prime minister and maybe he does.

Who doesn’t like to be flattered with being told you’re going to be prime minister or you’d be great at being prime minister?

Most politicians would blush and say, “No, no, I couldn’t.”

But inside they’re thinking, yes, I’d love to.

The problem for Doug Ford is that his moment for this has passed.

Now, was there ever a real possibility that could happen?

There’s a couple of reasons why I have always said I don’t think it’s a good idea. One, Doug Ford doesn’t like leaving Etobicoke, the western suburb of Toronto that he lives in.

You can’t be prime minister living in Etobicoke. You’re not going to move the legislature to the suburbs of Toronto. So that’s one strike against him.

Two, he doesn’t really like the list of policies that the federal government is in charge of. That’s not his wheelhouse. He’s more interested in very local things. Some have even said he’s too focused on Toronto and wants to be mayor of Toronto.

Thirdly, he doesn’t speak French and that is a problem.

Sure, I’ve spoken with some Francophones from Quebec who say, no, no, no, we could, we could sell Doug Ford to Quebecers. That is up for debate since we haven’t had a unilingual PM since Diefenbaker and even he could put together a little French.

But here’s the real problem with Doug Ford trying to replace Pierre Poilievre right now.

First off, the job’s not open and I don’t think that Poilievre is going anywhere any time soon.

Does he have troubles at the moment? Absolutely. He’s lost four MPs who crossed over to the Liberals. He could be losing more and his polling numbers have dropped. That is a real problem for him. He’s got the summer to try and figure that out.

If he doesn’t turn things around then you could see somebody inside or outside of the party try to push him out.

But will it be Doug Ford?

Doug Ford just won another massive majority government just over a year ago. Why would he leave that to go and become opposition for at least three years? Why would you sit as leader of the opposition when you could be premier of the largest province in Canada?

Additionally, Doug Ford has been praising Mark Carney. How does he turn around and say, Mark Carney’s doing a great job, and then become opposition leader and start saying, this guy’s awful, he has to go?

Maybe when Justin Trudeau was in power, if Poilievre had lost and Trudeau had won maybe Ford would have taken a run at it. But right now, it just isn’t in the cards.

It’s unforeseeable how this could possibly happen.

Also, does anyone see Ford securing a large number of votes west of the Ontario-Manitoba border?

I certainly don’t.

But because of the online world, rumors continue to swirl, speculation is rampant, and bad ideas continue to float around.

What are your thoughts?