Personal support workers gathered outside Premier Doug Ford's Etobicoke constituency office on Wednesday, in the latest demonstration to target the Progressive Conservative leader over his government's handling of public services.

The workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said they are worried about Ontario's new regulatory body for personal support workers, a profession that is in high demand but chronically understaffed. Attendees fear the new body could lead to less favourable working rights.

"When this PSW registry was first announced, it was billed as a benefit for PSWs," Debra Maxfield, chairperson of CUPE's health-care workers committee, told Global News.

"They said it would be like any other college of professionals, like the Ontario College of Nurses. The reality is far short of that."

According to Global News, the Etobicoke event is part of a string of recent demonstrations against the premier, many of them led by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

A summer of protests

Last week, protesters with OPSEU paddled to Ford's cottage in Muskoka to demonstrate. "Today, Local 358 joined fellow OPSEU/SEFPO locals to paddle to Doug Ford's cottage with one clear message: we aren't going away," the union said in an Instagram post. "We won't stop until public services are properly funded and workers receive a full Bill 124 remedy."

Bill 124 was wage restraint legislation passed by the Ford government before the pandemic. It capped public sector pay increases at one per cent.

The cottage protest came shortly after hundreds of OPSEU members descended on Ford Fest, the annual event hosted by the Ford family and the Progressive Conservative Party, which was held this year at Thompson Memorial Park.

Roughly 850 public service workers attended, representing about 4,000 workers in the vulnerable services sector who have been on strike for four weeks, according to Global News. They wore purple shirts bearing the words "worth fighting for" and planned to make themselves visible to the premier.

After Ford was introduced by Scarborough MPP David Smith, protesters drowned out the premier with a chorus of chants that continued throughout his speech.

Premier calls protests a disappointment

Ford chastised the protesters after the event, saying they had ruined a family-friendly barbecue.

"Am I disappointed that they dropped off four busloads of protesters and were using very vulgar language, using the F word every 10 seconds in front of little kids and family," Ford said on June 23.

"And then best of all, they ate the hamburgers and ate the ice cream while they were protesting," he said.

"Am I disappointed? Yes, I'm disappointed," Ford added.

While protesters gathered outside his constituency office on Wednesday, the premier did not face them in person. He appeared instead at an unpublicized, closed-door event in Hamilton to promote shipbuilding in Ontario.