Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s political brand is largely a mixture of conservatism and populism. He comes from a family that achieved wealth and success, but has always preferred being known as a man of the people and defender of the little guy. Hence, he employs healthy doses of populist rhetoric in his policies, oratorical style and speeches.

This, in turn, means Ford has a particular way with words. Sometimes they work to his political advantage. In other instances, he gets carried away and moves the political needle in the wrong direction.

Here’s an example. I wrote a column for Loonie Politics last June that critiqued Ford for depicting Prime Minister Mark Carney as Jolly Old Saint Nick. “I described him today as Santa Claus,” Ford said at the time. “He’s coming, and his sled was full of all sorts of stuff. And now he’s taken off back to the North Pole, he’s going to sort it out, and then he’s going to call us. So…the only thing short of Santa Claus is my big belly, I got to loan it to him!”

In my analysis, “Ford sounded unprofessional and foolish in front of the media. Comparing a personality-challenged Prime Minister to the generous spirit of Father Christmas made absolutely no sense.” Moreover, the “lavish number of financial gifts that Ford was openly praising” from the First Ministers’ Meeting “are also paid for by taxpayer dollars. If Ford is supposed to be a Conservative…why would he applaud something like this?”

If this had been an isolated incident, it could have been easily ignored. Alas, the Ontario Premier’s populist twang got him back into hot water once more.

During a press conference last month, Ford was asked by a reporter about a recent incident in Vaughan, Ont. A homeowner had used his “legally owned” and “properly stored” gun to shoot and wound a home invader. The media was curious to hear what the Premier thought about it.

“Congratulations,” he said. “Yeah, I’m glad you shot the guy. Teach…the rest of these robbers, and I encourage everyone out there. That’s a legal gun owner.”

Ford didn’t stop there. “The federal government, they’re spending so much time on going after legal, law abiding gun owners that safely store their guns, safely store their ammunition, they’re hunters or they’re sport shooters. I have an idea. Rather than wasting hundreds of millions of dollars going after legal gun owners, why don’t you spend that hundreds of millions of dollars going after the bad guys?”

He made a few other eye-raising remarks, too. “Well, you know, these guys, they need to be shot,” he said. “Congratulations for shooting this guy. Should have shot him a couple more times as far as I’m concerned…a vast majority of the people are thinking (what he was saying). I can assure you of that. So anyways, folks, God bless you. We’ll always have your backs, and we’re going to keep moving forward.”

Some of Ford’s comments were right on the money. His criticism of Ottawa’s never-ending campaign targeting law-abiding gun owners, for one thing. The need for the province to protect homeowners trying to defend their families, friends, neighbours and property from would-be criminals, too.

In the midst of Ford’s defence of private property and reforming provincial laws about home vandalism, he made the mistake of delving into a conversation that was much closer to vigilantism. Congratulating a homeowner for using his gun and suggesting he “should have shot” the home invader “a couple more times” wasn’t wrong in theory, but the description was over the top. Even if many Ontarians agreed with Ford’s basic sentiments, his personal and political message at the press conference was far too strong.

Words matter, and language is vitally important. Even for a populist like Ford.

The Premier thinks, acts and speaks in a way that’s no-nonsense, forthright, unfiltered and straight from the hip. Political leaders with a less direct link to populism, such as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, are also willing to tackle controversial issues and challenging discussions without worrying about any possible consequences. It’s not that the Premier’s position was invalid or difficult to formulate, but it shifted this important discussion away from home invasion to vigilantism against home invaders. That’s a poor political strategy, even if a significant chunk of his supporters were cheering him on.

Do I believe Ford’s comments will lead to his downfall in the next provincial election? No. That was also the case for his comparison of Carney to Santa Claus. The comments were foolish, but there are worse things in life.

Would Ford be wise to to think more carefully about his words and ideas going forward? Yes. His opponents could attempt to use some of the lines from the Vaughan press conference to attack him politically and raise donations for their local riding associations. It might turn out to be unsuccessful, but what if it’s the exact opposite? That would put the Premier at a disadvantage.

Can Ford make these adjustments? That remains to be seen. Jan-Werner Müller wrote in What Is Populism? that “the core claim of populism” is “only some of the people are really the people.” The Ontario Premier therefore has to figure out if the “folks” he loves to speak in support of are also the “people” he needs to keep onside.

Michael Taube, a longtime newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.