ADAMS: Doug Ford Says Gen Z Isn't Trying Hard Enough. I've Been Trying for Three Years.

Doug Ford speaks at the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s 2025/2026 Annual Priorities-Setting Session. Image credit: Doug Ford/X

Doug Ford thinks I'm lazy. Not me personally, of course, but me as a category: me as a “Zoomer.” Standing in front of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, with a plate of bacon and eggs, no doubt still warm in front of him, he told the room that if young people can't find jobs, it's because we're "not looking hard enough."

“It drives me nuts when I see young, healthy people and they’ll call me saying, ‘I can’t find a job,’” Ford told the crowd. “I assure you, if you look hard enough, it … may be in fast food or something else, but you’ll find a job.” Source: Toronto Star

That's the Premier of Ontario. The man who makes policy decisions that directly impact my life. The man whose party somehow sits on top of a record-breaking 53% in the polls. And instead of acknowledging that this province lost 26,000 jobs in August alone, his answer is: “Try harder, kids. Go flip burgers.”

I have news for you, Ford: I've been trying. I've been trying for over three years. I've applied at fast food joints, at retail shops, and at minimum wage cashier gigs. I may be a political writer, but believe me, I'd love to work at Dairy Queen. I'd love to wrap up tacos at Taco Bell. I'd love the steady paycheque, the stability, the dignity of a job would only benefit The Provincial Times. But here's the problem:

THERE ARE EXACTLY ZERO JOBS.

Or, more accurately, there are exactly zero that hire people like me.

The Myth of the Lazy Zoomer

One time, I went into a random thrift store to apply for the cashier position. The owner took one look at me and made it crystal clear I wouldn't be hired. Her reason? Because I'm a Zoomer. She said it flat out: we're lazy, we're entitled, we're not worth the trouble. That's the real story. I know first hand that Zoomers aren't "refusing to work," employers are refusing to give us a chance to work at all.

And yet Ford thinks he gets the right to lecture us. He thinks he gets to sit on his perch as part of Canada's political aristocracy—yes, I'll call it what it actually is—and tell the rest of us that we're lazy. Ford, who cut funding for public education several times, when I was still in school. Ford, who can waste money on luxuries like air conditioning for his car, while we're out here trying to scrape together the bus fare for interviews.

Ford, who's more concerned with dumping Crown Royal on the ground than with making sure young Ontarians can build a future.

It should be clear to everyone in Ontario that our province has become far, far worse under Ford's leadership. Sorry, but you can’t make excuses and blame Kathleen Wynne anymore. You can't blame past premiers for the current one being incompetent. Under Ford's watch, we've lost thousands of jobs, our schools and hospitals are underfunded by millions, and our services are literally rotting.

When I investigated Metrolinx after a tip from a CAD Rail Fleet Services employee, I learned their cleaning policies were likely leading to mould, and that Metrolinx didn't care. The Ministry of Health also did not care. Our infrastructure is rotting from the inside, workers are treated like disposable parts, and politicians shrug if off while lecturing us about “work ethic.” That is Ford's Ontario.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Let's look at the facts. According to Statistics Canada, Ontario's unemployment rate sits at 7.7%, higher than the national average of 7.1%. Windsor is at 11.1%, Oshawa at 9%, and Toronto at 8.9% Youth unemployment nationally? 14.5%. That's one of the highest rates in more than a decade, outside the pandemic.

So when Doug Ford tells us “there are jobs out there,” I have to ask: where, exactly? According to Statistics Canada, Ontario has lost 66,000 jobs since February. And Ford's answer is for us to compete for whatever scraps remain, even if it means giving up on our dreams, our skills, and our dignity.

This is not leadership. This is gaslighting.

A Broken System, Built by the Political Class

The truth is, the job market didn't break itself. It was broken by decades of bad policy at both the federal and provincial levels. Stephen Harper gutted stability for workers by undermining unions, and bringing in what was at the time, a record 41,706 high-skilled, Temporary Foreign Workers in 2013, many of which were brought in to work at fast food jobs, likely making some pretty high wages.

Just to spell this out: this has been going on since Thomas Mulcair was Leader of the Official Opposition, back in 2013, when I was literally seven years old.

Former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair slams the Harper government for allowing the temporary foreign workers program to be exploited by chains like Subway and A&W. Video credit: Macleans

Justin Trudeau of course, did absolutely nothing to reform this system, and now Mark Carney, and especially Doug Ford, continue to make things worse. In 2024, the situation with TFW's has become so out of whack that 7%—1.5 million out of our total workforce of 22 million people, are TFW's. Seeing the pattern yet?

Now look, I'm not gonna sit here crying because one of the girls handing me fries at Wendy's has a different accent than I do. She's perfectly nice, and that's not my point. My point is that Doug Ford is the one deliberately shipping in more workers from India, when he knows good and well Ontarians like myself can't even get hired for a job at McDonalds.

No matter which party runs the show, the message to our generation has been the same for the last 20 years: "You don't matter. Work harder, accept less, and stop complaining." They want us to fight eachother over minimum wage crumbs while housing prices skyrocket, food prices soar, and corporations rake in record profits.

And what does Ford say? "Abandon your skills. Get in line for whatever low-paying gig the market spits out. And if you can't land one? That's your fault. You're lazy."

The Hypocrisy of the Aristocracy

Doug Ford is not a man who has ever lived the life he tells us to live. He is not a man who has had to choose between rent and groceries. He is not a man who has had to submit dozens of applications just to be ghosted by an HR rep. He is not a man who has been judged and dismissed on sight for being “lazy.”

He is a man who inherited privilege. A man who, like so many in the political class, was handed a stage and told he was important despite doing nothing to earn said importance. A man who belongs to the political aristocracy, insulated from the consequences of the very policies he creates. And yet, he thinks he has the authority to dare lecture us about hard work and define whether we're lazy or not?

No, Mr. Ford. The only people being lazy are the politicians, like you, who refuse to fix the system they helped directly break.

Society Gains Nothing From Crushing Ambition

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaking at the opening of the TMU School of Medicine, with students in white coats standing behind him. Photo credit: Doug Ford, X

And the craziest part? Ford actually showed up at the grand opening of Toronto Metropolitan Universities new school of medicine in Brampton. Credit where it's due, this is a solid move by TMU. We need more doctors, and we need them badly. But while Ryerson is actually stepping up & trying to solve a real crisis, Ford has just told Toronto Met's medical students to give up before they even start.

Imagine that: Ryerson strategically placed its new campus in the diploma-mill capital of Canada, with the intention of training the next generation of doctors, and the Premier of Ontario's message to young people is basically, "Don't even bother."

So which is it, Doug? Do we need doctors, or do we need dropouts?

What kind of backwards, defeatist message is that, and what benefit does society gain from telling young people to quit their dreams? How does Ontario prosper when an entire generation of Ontarians are forced into jobs they don't want, jobs that don't pay, jobs that don't even hire them anyway? Ford is telling us to take what we can get. But what we can get is nothing. What we can get is rejection. What we can get is doors slammed in our faces.

And then, after years of trying, you have the gall to call us lazy? It's clown-world logic, and it really shows you exactly how unserious this government really is.

Conclusion: We’re Not Lazy. You’re Out of Touch.

Doug Ford can continue to pretend that young Ontarians aren't trying. He can keep hiding behind poll numbers and boardroom breakfasts. But the reality is simple: we are trying. We are applying. We are hustling. And we are hitting a wall that he and his fellow politicians built.

Zoomers aren't lazy. We're fighting every day in an economy that keeps telling us we don't matter. When a representative of the political aristocracy like Doug Ford sneers at us from his political throne, all he does is prove the point: he doesn't understand, he doesn't care, and he doesn't work nearly as hard as we do.