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Ford should call in the army.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/06/01/toronto-ttc-shutd...
For the love of sweet fuck all.
Bring back the death penalty in Canada: Mammoliti
Yeah, George, how should we deal with you, I mean, them?
Mammoliti's just looking for attention again.
Sweet jumping Moses.
Doug Ford apologizes for using "Polack" to describe Rob Ford's wife.
The Coward Robert Ford
His office budget cut was even more pathetic. This is really sad??? Where's the Gravy, ROB?
Subway fans dream in Scarborough, thanks to province delaying Sheppard East LRT – again.
Nice to see Kelly isn't hyperbolizing too much (sarcasm). He shouldn't get his hopes up, though. Unless there is either a pot of gold that McGuinty has stashed away for a Sheppard extension, or there is a credible private-sector case put forward (unlikely, given Ford couldn't pull one out of the hat last time around), a subway remains in the realms of fantasy.
Kelly's over-the-top rhetoric is of a piece with his last contribution to the Sheppard transit debate, though. I (and a few others, I'm guessing) still remember his disgusting little flyer, where he used the deaths on the Edmonton LRT for political gain, and a picture purportedly of Sheppard Avenue East. Except, it wasn't.
Juat in case folks thought Ford hasn't fucked up lately.
Ford misses council meeting for football, team driven in private TTC bus
TTC, police, deny responsibility for decision to divert buses for Mayor Rod Ford's football team
Rob Ford: TTC bus brouhaha 'has nothing to do with me'
I think Ford could learn a lot from Gérald Tremblay.
Rob Ford as metaphor: The real culture of entitlement
I would be interested in seeing the demographic breakdown of voters who voted for Ford. I always assumed it was mostly white men who voted for him as well, but I was always surprised when I saw person in the street interviews in his old ward (especially around the time he was trying to cut libraries) of the "I voted for him but I didn't think he'd do this" flavour - so many of them were people of colour. But anecdotes =/= data, so it would have been interesting to see vote breakdowns at the time. In Rob Ford's old ward, for instance, where he won landslides and where his brother has now won a landslide (72% of the vote), so-called "visible minorities" are actually the majority, according to census data.
I agree with Laxer that white men and middle-class to upper-middle-class whites benefit most from Ford's brand of politics, but I think it's too easy to say his win was due to white men of all classes voting for him, and I also don't buy the argument that white men voted as a bloc. When we fall into easy stereotypes (not only of how white men vote - and let's not forget, the Toronto left is filled with white men - but also about how people of colour vote, assuming that they don't vote for Ford, when many likely do), then it becomes hard to strategize and reach out to voters that could be wooed away from voting for Ford.
One of the stereotypes about cities is that whites dominate the suburbs, and visible minorities are "ghettoized" into the core. But as you might know, that doesn't really apply to Toronto. It takes some affluence to be able to live closer to the core. And the burbs are filled with far more working people, not to mention visible minorities: Scarborough, Rexdale, Jane+Finch, to name a few.
So when you hear that Ford did well with the burbs, that would mean that he HAD to do well with visible minorities.
The cynical person would remind you that people don't vote their interest. But what do they vote for? Values. For better or for worse. Voters aren't reading policy platforms (and some candidates don't even have a real policy platform). Voters are looking at a candidate and asking "do they share the same worldview as me?"
Ford had a clear value-based message: "stop the gravy train". When it came time to translate that into policy, Ford pissed a lot of his own voters off: reducing transit service, closing arenas and rec centers, reducing waste management services. But as a statement of values, "stop the gravy train" has appeal beyond race and class. No one hates the idea of wasting money more than people who are struggling to get by. It was a good campaign for a bad policy. (In an alternate reality, it could even be a campaign about corrupt companies, executive bonuses, and taxes on the wealthy.)
And in terms of a clear statement of values, Ford had no competition. Pretty sure Smitherman ran on "well, yeah, Ford is right, and I'll make cuts too, but..."
Ford won't win again. Thank God.
Big day for Ford on Monday.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1291672--rob-fo...
That might be a good thing if he were turfed by Hackland. But Ford's just a lame-duck figurehead anyway, who really isn't running the show. It might be better if he were beaten in the next election by Chow or Vaughan or someone, rather than being turfed out by a judge (IE, turfed by the electorate rather than by a judge).
Well I have to say that if Ford is not sanctioned in some way, this will go to his head and he will con't to act like he is king. Judges have removed trustees in Ontario who breached conflict of interest guidelines but they were small potatoes in comparison to removing the mayor of the biggest city.
However, judges are not suppose to play politics and use "law" to inform their decision, as well as past legal court decisions to inform their present decisions.
Thus he will rule that Ford breached conflict of interest and be sanctioned in some way that is meaningful but not sure if he will be removed from office.
Mark, this mayor is a complete disaster.
I'm going to make a bold prediction right now: nothing is going to happen to Ford. He'll get a slap on the wrist, scolded, told he's a bad boy, and he will still be mayor on Tuesday.
Great article in the Star about false populism:
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1291812--the-great-lie-of-th...
Unfortunately, Michelle is probably right: Boss Hogg will likely recieve a tiny slap on the wrist (and even that might be more than we can reasonably hope for), and will still be Mayor come Tuesday morning. It's pretty clear he's lying through his teeth, as Enzo Di Matteo ably maps out in this article -
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=189858
-but I doubt that's enough to get his fat ass shitcanned, as he so richly deserves. Basic political realities caution otherwise. And while I agree with Mark that there's a certain attraction in prefering to see the rotten bastard repudiated by the voters come next election time, I'm not nearly as confident as many of you seem to be about that being a foregone conclusion. There appears to still be a disturbingly high level of support for Ford out there, no matter how lazy, dishonest, incompetent, or out-and-out crooked or corrupt he's proving to be.
But then, that's the modern day right for you. I used to read the Toronto Sun back when I was a kid, and their politics were pure far right/Tea Party mouth frothing decades before the Tea "Party" even existed. If these people have a Number One rule in life, it can probably be summed up as "Do As I Say, Not As I Do," which really should be enshrined on a plaque above the Sun's editorial offices. It's tribalism, pure and simple; they're not going to turn on Ford, unless he really gets caught red handed in some major league law breaking. And even then, many of them will refuse to abandon him. He may not be re-elected, but he's not liable to be voted out to the crushing, humiliating extent that he deserves. Sadly enough.
WOOOO HOOOO! I've never been so happy to be wrong!
He's guilty, and he's out! WOOOOOOOOO!
Don't expect to see him gone too soon, though. The judge has given the ruling 14 days to take effect, which is lots of time for Ford's lawyers to file an appeal and request that the ruling is stayed until the appeal is heard. And the judge has not barred him from running again, so even if he loses the appeal, he can run again for re-election. And unfortunately, it's possible that Toronto will be stupid enough to elect the dumbass again. So it's not a complete victory, but it's pretty awesome!
WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!!!!
As a Vancouverite, I am outraged at this miscarriage of justice. Where will I look for my municipal politics comic relief? Where will I look to feel superior?
Wow. This is crazy. Anyone know what happens next? Assuming he is actually removed from office, is a by-election immediately called? Does City Council appoint someone for the remainder of the term (like what happened in Montreal)? Does the deputy mayor take over?
la la la - yeah, the judge could only look at whether Ford was in "conflict", and also past "case law" to make his ruling. Now the 14 days is provide the municipal council to make decisions concerning voting to fill the vacancy through a by election or by appointment.
Incidently, Ford could appeal but he will still be removed and not be able to act in a mayor capacity until the appeal goes through the courts.
It was pretty cut and dry that he was in conflict - ball is in Ford's court.
It is lovely news and warms the cockles of my evil cyclist heart, though I'm sure he will appeal.
Catchfire, Montréal, Laval, Toronto ... any reason the mayor of Vancouver should be next? (not counting Mascouche, a much smaller place).
I confess I never read this thread because I thought it was about the decline of the automotive industry in Ontario - a serious issue to be sure, but not one that I had been following closely. (We need an automotive industry to convert it to green public transport production jobs)...
Really? A CBC article on this story (quoted below) claims otherwise.
Yeah, that's what I was saying - if he appeals, you can be sure he'll also file for an injunction to stay the decision until the appeal is heard. He may not win that injunction, but on the other hand, he might. So I wouldn't be expecting to see him carrying bankers boxes out quite yet.
If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on London mayor Joe Fontana being the next to go...