Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he threatened to beat up a Home Depot shoplifter over the summer.
Ford told an audience at Toronto’s Empire Club that bail needs to be strengthened because criminals have become emboldened.
The prime minister told a story from the summer when he said he left his police detail to go to Home Depot to buy plants for his cabin for an upcoming visit by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Ford says a man left the store with two backpacks, followed by security guards who claimed he had stolen something, but stopped following him because they had been told not to do anything in such situations.
Then Ford says he took matters into his own hands, tracked down the guy and demanded he open his bag.
When the man refused, Ford says he threatened to hit him and he finally relented.
“I told him, ‘Dude, I’m going to kick your ass all over the parking lot, show me what’s in your bag,'” Ford said at the fireside chat Tuesday.
He said the man then pulled out a saw blade that the store manager said was stolen.
“Then I told him that if I ever saw him in the parking lot, he would get beat up like never before,” Ford said.
“But that’s what you have to do.”
