Canada: why Doug Ford is kryptonite for Conservatives' election hopes

Ontario premier, whose stock as an electoral asset has plummeted as the party struggles to build momentum outside their base, has been compared to Trump

When a brash businessman-turned-politician won a majority government in Canada's most populous state in 2018, Conservatives in the country wondered if they could ride a similar populist wave to national victory in this year's general election.

Promising to slash income tax, cut fuel prices and repeal carbon pricing, Doug Ford took 41% of the vote and ended 15 years of Liberal rule in Ontario.