Snow plows rumbled and salt trucks spewed de-icing pellets onto Toronto’s streets, barely visible under two feet of snow. A stocky man brandished a comically small red shovel as he helped dig out a car trapped at an intersection.
The helping hand was provided by Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and its largest economy, who came to the rescue of drivers trapped in the January 2022 snowstorm, even giving a few of them rides home.
Some residents criticized the gesture as having the patina of a public relations stunt, but the “little red shovel” moment captured Mr. Ford’s essence: the Everyman who, despite lacking some of the polish of other politicians, still gets the job done.
Mr. Ford has lately been leading the charge against a different kind of storm that has rolled into Canada: President Trump’s threats to the country’s economy and his desire to make it the 51st state.
“These floods are a clear reminder of the growing threat of climate-induced extreme weather events,” said Sissi Knispel de Acosta, the general secretary of the European Climate Research Alliance,66jogo which is made up of research groups that study global warming.
The new charge of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree is just the most recent legal trouble for a man who was the center of accusations that set off the global #MeToo movement. Mr. Weinstein, 72, has also been convicted in California on sex charges and faces a prison term there.
Mr. Ford, 60, has thrust himself into the public spotlight, aggressively defending Canada’s sovereignty, economy and honor, earning him the moniker “Captain Canada” among some Canadians at a moment when the country feels betrayed by the United States and has responded with fury.
“It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart,” Mr. Ford told reporters after Mr. Trump began threatening tariffs on Canada. The premier has taken to wearing a “Canada Is Not For Sale” baseball cap and a “Never 51” hockey jersey, both alluding to Mr. Trump’s repeated statehood declarations.
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