It used to be that BC had all the crazy politicians! I'm glad the other provinces are slowly catching up!

Agreed. All I would add to that is it could be a blessing in disguise. Save the cost of a byelection and let Mayor Ford go down in a blaze of glory without turning into a martryr.

Just stand back. 

The saga of Canada's worst mayor continues.

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/16/toronto_mayor_rob_ford_...

Nothing on the local news (CTV) but FB is spreading this fast!

This explains a few things

Hate to burst bubbles but no one has actually produced a copy of the video (CBC and The Globe and Mail both reported on it this morning and are making it clear that they can't verify the video or the claims about it) and The Star and Gawker are hardly sources I'd rely on for this story. The former hates Ford with the fire of a thousand suns and the latter is a gossipy, shoot from the lip US "news" site. I'm not fan of Rob Ford (and, mercifully, don't live in Toronto) but until I can see the video with my own eyes and it can be independently examined, I'd say that Ford has nothing to answer for. Furthermore, if that video can't be proven to exist soon, his lawyers would be well within their rights to start filing defamation suits so I hope for the sake of the editors and writers at those two sources it goes public soon.

Besides, my own mayor is really, legitimately facing criminal charges so I have a genuine scandal to follow.

Mendalla

Mendalla, I agree, I thought the link made that clear.  I'm just surprised it wasn't mentioned at all on the news, even with a disclaimer.  They have reported on false stories before, without a disclaimer.

Who's your mayor?

Joe Fontana, a former federal cabinet minister (and my riding's MP at the time) under Martin who's facing charges of fraud in case where he is alleged to have misappropriated federal government funds to pay for his son's wedding during his tenure in cabinet. He's also under scrutiny now for his role in a charitable trust that has had it's status yanked by CRA for a number of "irregularities" including issuing receipts for more than the amount of donations and payments to its directors, including Fontana (who apparently pocketed $41000 from the trust).

The local paper, the London Free Press, has a section on their website just on the mayor: http://www.lfpress.com/topic/fontana.

Mendalla

Here's a video:

Either it's old or Ford lost quite a bit of weight or it's just a look-alike though

Now I feel like a hypocrite.  I copied the link and the video embedded.  Sorry to anyone that this creates issues for!

Hi Alex

At present it explains nothing.  It is another brick in the alleged substance abuse pile.

Grace and peace to you.

John

If the report turns out to be true, than I would tend to believe the mayor does have a substance problem, and that contributes to his erratic behaviour. Everything from chasing down a reporter, to his mother in law call the cops to his home.  Eventually those bricks start to become a wall.

With the video expected to become public this week, the silence of his supporter is deafening.

 

 

Except for Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, who cast doubt on the legitimacy of the video, Ford’s messaging apparatus was also silent. His loquacious brother and fiercest defender, Councillor Doug Ford, cancelled a planned television appearance and did not return calls. In a departure from some previous controversies, neither the mayor’s chief of staff nor press secretary issued a written statement.

The Fords also cancelled their weekly Sunday radio show on Newstalk 1010.

The disclosure of the video’s existence has created the biggest crisis of a turbulent mayoralty that has lurched between unusual difficulties major and minor. The Toronto police are “monitoring the situation closely,” spokesperson Mark Pugash said, 

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/17/rob_ford_crack_scandal_mayor_must_respond_councillor_says.html

Actually their is no proof that the Star hates Ford.  None of their stories have proven to be false, and it is just Ford and his supporters who claim that the Star is out to get him. It is far more likely that people are bringing the Star stories that are true,.  So if one is keeping score, 100% of the stories in the Star stand as factual, while the mayor has not provided any evidence, let alone conclusive proof that any of the Stars stories about him oin the last three years are false.

Also if their ever was a case for a legal suit this would be it.  The Star is a business and I doubt that they would just throw something out that would cause them to spend  money on legal fees, and a large stettlemen, without due cause.  Plus the fact that they have a proven record of being right on city hall issues, why would they through that record away?

In today's Star it says that the Ford  video isn't a smoking gun on a drug prosecution charge. Prosecutors would have to prove that the substance Ford is smoking is cocaine. Physical evidence of the drug would be required for charges to be laid.

The Star? I subscribe to it but they sure make a lot of money on the Ford stories, sort of tabloid style.

 The Toronto Star article re the post above:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/17/mayor_rob_ford_police_monitor...

Toronto deserves so much better than Canada's worst mayor. As the city which represents Canada to the world, we really ought to have the best. I voted for the other guy.

The news channels are just slow, as usual.  Nothing on the 11pm news, after it had been on FB for a while.  Not covered in the morning.  I didn't see it at lunch, but to be fair I only caught some of the stories then.  It was on sometime in the evening, forgot if it was the 5, 6, or 11 that I caught it on.  It was also on the next day.

Torontonians are beaming with pride, now that their mayor is making headlines in the US, EUrope and Asia. They always have wanted to be a world class city.

I love the NMA video, especially the drunk beaver at the crack party.

Hi Alex,

If.  Never has so much hung on so little.

Still, where one finds smoke one will often find fire.  My apologies if anyone finds the proverb to be in poor taste.

Some of the bricks have not been proven to be of substance.

Possibly.  At some point you have to wonder about defence fatigue.  While there is typically something burning when smoke is the air it is not a given that the smoke is actually coming from where you hope it is.

It has to be tiring looking after every complaint and criticism raised and given that Mayor Ford is probably his own worst enemy, the less he and his brother open their mouth the better off they seem to be.

Time will tell if this is actual fire or false hopes.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Just saw a cartoon that implied that the whole Ford scandal was a way to divert attention away from the bigger scandals of Duff and Pamela....

Hi MC Jae,

Then they should have voted for another one.

and

Admittedly both sound like blaming the victim and I have family and friends in TO who I believe deserve better.

Ottawa, as Canada's capital probably does more representing Canada to the world.

Of course at different times it has been other cities.  Gander, NL during 9/11 did Canada extremely proud.

Grace and peace to you.

John

As far as ethics go, Ford was elected in part to the attitudes and ethical behaviour of the candidate who came in second, and the guy who drop out a year earlier for lieing about his affairs.

This Ford smoking crack video is an interesting event, because like so many scandals, it is icky all around, as well as being so very modern.  Evryone has a camera today on the cell phones, and in addtition to the who question of checkbook journalism, we have crowdsourceing checkbook journalism. Something not possible a few years ago.

I also suspect that the legal aspects of getting the 200,000 dollars into the hands of the drug dealer may still be iff. For one, how do they get them money across the border. do they get a reciept to prove to the IRS that the money was spent?  Etc.

It is interesting to see what what will happen.

I think that that scandal is going to cause harper to decide to resign soon, in order for the Tories to find a replacement, and give him or her time, to run things before going to the electors.

Harper resign over the Senate scandal? Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. He certainly won't frame it that way. Nigel Wright's done a good job of putting some distance between Harper and the gift to Duffy so I'm not sure that Stevie is going to get all that much of the smell on his clothes.

To be honest, I don't know if Harper leaving before the next election is that good an idea for the Conservatives. For all the problems that he is facing, he is also a fairly strong, if rather dictatorial leader, who has done a good job of keeping the ship on a course that can actually win votes. I'm not sure anyone else in the current party will be able to reign in the looney right and letting that group set policy is probably the surest way to make Trudeau or Mulcair PM.

The bigger scandal to my mind is that if Harper had actually stuck to his original Reform Party position on the Senate (abolition or radical reform), then this wouldn't be blowing up the way it is because we either wouldn't have one or it would no longer be appointed by the PM.

Mendalla

Hi Alex,

Not likely.  Duffy and Wallin would be tossed under the bus first.  With Duffy and Brazeau out of caucus and Walling recusing herself the only scandal this represents for Harper is poor judgment.

Not like that is something new with respect to Senate appointments by this PM.

Grace and peace to you.

John

The problem with Harper is that he has to explain what he knew about Nigel Wrights 90,000 payment to Duffy. It sounds strange to only deny the fact that he was not consulted.  What did he know. Did he know that Duffy needed to coverup even further wrong doing.  Did he know Duffy was ripping off both taxpayers, and the COnservative Party.

Will people (especially conservative donors) believe any he says now? Listen to the opinions of Conservatives on yesterdays Cross Country Check Up.  http://cbc.sh/abBlvEF  Many intersting questions, including:Why if the 90,000 was only a gift, did Duffy and Nigel both use lawyers for the transaction?.

I do not thik he will official resign over this scandal, but his polling numbers over the next weeks could take a nose dive (they are already in the twenties) so if they drop to the low twenties, he is in Kim Campbell;s neighbourhood.

BTW the caimpaign to but Ford's video has already raised over $70.  WIll it raise 200,000/

Hi Alex,

As if.  Nigel Wright had no need to consult with Harper about the gift/loan/bail-out as it is a transaction between friends.

Haprer never felt it necessary to explain why he felt it appropriate to appoint Doug Finley or Irving Gerstein to the Senate when both were deeply involved in the "In and Out" scandal of 2006.

Of course, that is still under investigation and PM Harper may still have to give an account of what he knew.  I wouldn't count on it.

Strange?  It is the first line of defence.  Plausible denial.

It seems difficult to believe that a control freak like Harper knew nothing still the burden of proof is to show that he knew something.

Don't know that he did.  Pretty certain that he doesn't care.  Duffy was a patronage appointment, remember who campaigned to bring that nonsense to an end?

Don't know that he did.  Pretty certain that he doesn't care about Duffy taking anything out of taxpayer hands and I'm pretty certain that there is no way that the Conservatives are going to lose a dime of their own funding on this.

I'm pretty sure that a gift to the Senate is a charitable donation.

In a partisan political climate all that matters is that he belongs to the right party.

I'm not certain that Cross Country Check Up is an accurate bell-weather.  Political Polls have been off recently also so I'm not putting a lot of stock in them either.

Conservatives may be upset at what the Federal Conservative Party is doing.  Conservatives who have been slamming the Liberals and NDP for wanting to spend tax dollars like drunken sailors for years are not going to sing their votes that way.

Agreed.  There are a lot of interesting questions like how Duffy confused a transaction with an aide from the PMO for a bank loan from RBC.  Very little of that is going to reflect much on the PM.

Campbell suffered greatly for the attack ad that ran Chretien's mug asking if it looked like the face of a leader.  As soon as Chretian reveals that his appearance is due to facial paralysis, a side effect of Bell's Palsy a line was crossed.  Campbell claims not to have known about the attack ad prior to it being run.

That wasn't her only mistake but it is widely regarded as the most definite nail in her political coffin.

Since there is no longer a Reform Party for Conservative voters to swing towards I doubt that Harper will feel the same electoral bite.

Grace and peace to you.

John

One of the problems is that Senator  while taking  money from the taxpayers are following rules set by the Senate, which have no penalities for breeching their own rules.

 Howevr when Duffy billed his expensives for campaigning during the last election, he billed the Senate, the Conservative Party of Canada, and the local conservative riding association he campaigned on.  Triple billing for the same expenses. This may be one of the reasons that Wright wanted to make Duffy's audit go away, as it would have revealed to Tory donors that they were being ripped off.

Now while the RCMP may be in a poor position to charge him with theft or fraud from the Senate, Election Canada may charge him with making illegal contributions in the election, which would also put some of the campaigns he worked on overbudeget, and forcing by-election.  The COnservatives could prevent this by pointing out they paid his expenses and thus it was not a contribution. (albeit there is not only his expenses, but when you have a business and give free services that reflect what you do in business it too must be accounted for as a donation, and Duffy while being a Senator also runs a speakers business) 

Howevr the Tory's paid Duffy for his services, not only once but twice, becasue he billed both the local campaign and the central campiagn.

The grassroots of the Conservative Party I suspect are upset that not only did Harper allow this to go on with taxpayers money, but also money raised by COnservative supporters.

As well according to this from the National Post, support for Harper from the Conservative Caucus is also weakening.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/19/senate-scandal-may-further-weake...

Tory MPs have been hearing from upset constituents about the Senate expenses controversy that has become one of the most serious challenges for the prime minister’s administration.

 

The situation has the potential to further weaken Harper’s hold on caucus, where MPs had already been agitating for more autonomy from his office in the Commons. The Tories have also lost ground recently in the polls.

There is a much more businees and oil friendly Liberal Party for the 1/2 of Conservtives who are not socially conservative. Leaving the  Social Credit rump to  the so called conservative party.

Hi Alex,

Potatoe, Poh-tah-toe.  If the CRA notices a difference then they will do something about it.

Not entitled?  It is the Senate.

Patronage appointments are like that.

Right.  The victims of theft pay the thief even more for the privilege of being stolen from.  Crime isn't supposed to pay.  Tough on crime Tories must have missed this.

I'm sure when Elections Canada is done with the 2006 Campaign financing scandal and the Pierre Poutine scandal they'll get right on it.

Possibly.  Although I bet more are interested in the Gas Plant scandal because, well, that was the Liberals doing what Liberals do and that is evil.  I mean why would you want a nasty Liberal stealing your tax dollar when the Conservatives will gladly do it for you.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Harper just added more fuel to the fire. He called the scandal a 'distraction" and made the opposition responsible because blamed the opposition for not allowing him to reform the senate.

Rob Ford has been fired from his volunteer job as a football coach at a Catholic High School.  The school board says it has nothing to do with the crack allegations. According to the CBC It is due to an interview he gave  to  Sun News and that was published March 1st in the Toronto Sun..

Here is the link to the Sun interview..

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/01/mayor-rob-ford-defends-his-football....

I wonder what lead to the dismissal. Is he lying about the teens he coaches, claiming the come from ganags and broken homes and that he bails them out of jail, and than has them sleep over at his house.

I imagine it upset some of the parents of the teens who would believe it tarnished their kids reputation.  Or perhaps they were upset by the realisation he took these kids to his place to sleep over. 

Hi Alex,

How do you fire somebody you don't employ?  Ford is a volunteer.

In essence TDCSB is saying thanks for all you've done for Don Bosco we want to give somebody else the responsibility.

The press release can be read to suggest that the Board of wishes that Mayor Ford was more of a Mayor and didn't use his role as a coach to abandon the duties of his office.

Certainly this past season has afforded the Mayor with opportunities to coach and at times those volunteer activities have interferred with his paid responsiblities.  Sadly, when he commandeers a bus for his players and leaves paying citizens standing in the rain that reflect poorly upon him as Mayor and it reflects badly on the school which had already contracted a bus to bring the players home.

His comments about the calibre of the students doesn't help the school's image any.

Sadly, nobody has ridiculed the Mayor for his volunteer work.  He has been ridiculed for putting his volunteer work ahead of his duties as Mayor but nobody has said that his volunteer work with his team is a waste of his time.

Mayor Ford's inability to see and acknowledge the obvious is becoming legendary.

If he would read the news release put out by the TDCSB he might realize that his priorities need some readjusting.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Regardless of the unstated reason for him being fired, I believe that Ford's political career is now finished. He may have survived the crack smoking allegations, especially if there were more than one serious candidate running against him,  but I doubt he can now be re-elected if the school board does not want him as a volunteer, in a program he reestablished with his own funds. If he is not suited for volunteer work, how can he be suited to being mayor.

It also appears that the man who is in the picture with Ford, taken from the video that alleged shows him smoking a glass pipe, and who was killed in a shooting in March was a player on Ford's football team.  

The video is now irrelevant politically as Ford is politically dead.

It is now just a very sad and tragic story.  

Hi Alex,

Again, you cannot fire individuals not in your employ.  You can ask them to go elsewhere.  If they refuse to go elsewhere you could have the police remove them.  You cannot fire them.

And what TDCSB has said is only that Mr. Ford will not be head coach at Don Bosco.  It has not said that Mr. Ford cannot take up coaching duties elsewhere.  This is not the first time that Mr. Ford has been asked to not show up for a particular program.

Possibly.  Mr. Ford has supporters who enable him and, from all accounts he returns phone calls which seems like a very small thing until you actually try to get a hold of a municipal politician for something of a concern.

As has always been the case Mr. Ford's political career is in the hands of the voting public and long before Mr. Ford was elected to the office of Mayor when people already knew that he lied about a DUI, drunkenly shouted at a couple while at a Leafs game which he initially claimed to have not been anywhere near.

Those, frankly, are enough to indicate he is a man who defines intergrity as sloppily as he understands conflict of interest.  So why not make him Mayor?  What is the worst that could happen?

And despite all of that he, and a great deal of Ford nation think that all of this is pure invention by the Star.

Grace and peace to you.

John

News reports are getting worse for Harper. 

This has all the makings of Harper being forced out of office by his party, in order to protect the conservative party, which faces destruction a la Kim Cambell.

CTV reported late last night that Senator Stewart Olsen was behind the whitewash of the audit on Duffy's expenses. Olsen is one of Harpers closest and most loyal adviser.

Many in Ottawa are privately  saying  that they believe that  the 90,000 payment to Duffy  can be explained by Duffy threatening the PMO that he would go  "nuclear" by  exposing a whole list Conservative wrong doings,k if they did not cover his ass. 

Now that the PMO and other Conservatives have cut off Duffy, it is thought by some (ie David Frum) that he himself may be one of the sources CTV is using on this story. And that he has only just started leaking. As well other dissaffected Conservative are also leaking and taking out thier frustration after many years of staying silent on other issues.

Harper IMHO has held a tight control over his party. Once he looses control , we will see all sorts of scandals break out. Stories on scandals based on Tory leaks will dominate the news for the forseebale future.

Based on all the different rumours of wrong doing over the last few years I have been predicting that the next election be a battle between the Liberals and the NDP, with business moving to support the Liberals, because the Conservative brand will be so badly damaged, that it will hurt big business's agenda to be assciiated with the Conservative Party. 

Watch for the LIberals and New Democrats to start focusing on each other, as they position themselves for the next election

[quote=MC jae

]Toronto deserves so much bette

tAs the city which represents Canada to the world

/quote

 IYO

Maybe the media might revisit other problems (but not likely) for Harper:  A commission costing millions to manage a fund that was never created; an appointed protector of whistleblowers who did her job so poorly she resigned early with a very generous severance package and prevented from speaking to a Commons  committee; 3,1 billion dollars missing out of a 13 billion dollar security budget; icebrakers promised in every election campaign and are still not here, but are projected to cost more than double similar icebreakers made for Denmark and Norway; 50 million dolllars from G8 budget for gazebos and such, and the list goes on.  But enough Conservative voters read very little and do not listen to CBC that none of the above is likely to make a big difference.  Harper's strong selling point is as a manager of the economy, but the Dow JOnes was about a 1000 points behind the TSX before the collapse of 2009, and it is now almost 3000 points above the TSX.  That does not look like a sign of strong economic management.

Gawker can no longer get ahold of the drug dealer with the video. If that continues to be the case after the deadline for their crowdsourcing program ends on Monday, then they won't collect the money and the story is largely dead. Without that video, there's no evidence. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, of course, but without it, nothing will be provable. It basically means Ford is off the hook unless the video resurfaces (assuming it even exists and can stand up to scrutiny).

That said, the fact that he canned his chief of staff for suggesting he get help with some of his issues won't play well for him next election, nor will his poor (read lack of) response to the media firestorm, though apparently that's at least partly his lawyers' doing. Basically two more straws on the camel's back though neither is likely to be the one that breaks it.

Mendalla

Ford is speaking out:

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/24/rob_ford_video_scandal_...

I wonder about the video.  I wouldn't be surprised if Ford was using some type of illegal drug though.  Is there anything other than crack that could be smoked with a crack pipe?

Actually it is  assumed that the person who took the video is a dealer, or  a user. If he has "disaapeared" it will be worse for Ford. Because if the video is real and exists, the mayor knows who the photographer is, and likely knows some shady characters who will helo him take care of this guy.

Howver between the leaked report of his now fired chief of staff begging Ford to go to treatment/rehab and his dismissal from his volunteer job, and being banned from all Catholic Schools in Toronto, I believe it is over for Ford regardless of what happens now.

Lets play. Guess who this famous Canadian is?

This person used to love being in front of the camera. WHo do you think it is?

Good point. At the same time, as I recall, support for Ford was strongest in the suburbs. The central downtown core of Toronto (and a few of us suburbanites) rallied behind Smitherman. 

And yet Ottawa is not the world-class city that Toronto is. In my own limited international travels, people who I've spoken with have known TO, not Ottawa.

I agree with your comments on Gander.

Rich blessings.

The Globe and Mail published a story detailing the Ford Family long history of involvement in the drug trade. Including his brother (a city councillor and Tory candidate) Doug who was a high level drug dealer.

 This investigative report reveals that:

Given their extensive ties to the criminal underworld,many are now assuming that the guy with the video is now now dead.

That's my theory too, Alex. Either that or one of the 3 Amigos cut a really big cheque to make everything "disappear". Who's going to miss a couple of crack dealers?
Great to have friends in low places.

I'm surprised there has been no comment on the Globe and Mail article by the Ford brothers, given that The Star has been fingered as the "bad" paper for publishing lies.

In this world of corrupt politics, nothing surprises me anymore.

And it is not just the Ford family who has something to hide. Along with the video last year of Romney,  I bet many wealthy, and privldged people are unhappy that it could be open season on their "private" lives which expose their hypocracy and immorality. If waiters and drug users can expose them with a phone camera, than anyone can.