Ont. Premier Doug Ford says he threatened to beat up Home Depot shoplifter

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he confronted a shoplifter at a Home Depot over the summer during a speaking engagement at the Empire Club in Toronto.

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he threatened to beat up a Home Depot shoplifter over the summer.

Ford told an audience at the Empire Club in Toronto that bail needs to be strengthened because criminals have become emboldened.

The premier relayed a story from the summer when he said he ditched his police detail to go to Home Depot to buy plants for his cottage for an upcoming visit from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Ford says a man walked out of the store with two backpacks, trailed by security guards who claimed he stole something but they stopped following the man because they had been instructed not to do anything in such situations.

So Ford says he took matters into his own hands, tracked the guy down and demanded he open up his bag.

When the man refused, Ford says he threatened to beat him up and he eventually relented.

“I said, buddy, ‘I’m going to kick your ass all over the parking lot, show me what’s in your bag,’” Ford told the fireside chat on Monday.

He said the man then pulled out a saw blade that the store manager said was stolen.

“Then I went on to tell him, if I ever see him in the parking lot, he’s going to get a beating like he’s never got before,” Ford said.

“But that’s what you have to do.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2025.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press