Rob Ford's Toronto

[nfitz]

Then again, they've said there's three videos, so this may be a bit difficult if it's true.

I don't use Iphones ... but I assume that unlike most of the comments, there is no tape, but something like a simple MP4 file? Surely you could go from 3 copies to dozens in minutes.

 

[CN Tower]

Well that would explain the attempted murder at the video owners apartment building...

You believe that the mayor hired someone to murder the owner of the video? Just so I'm clear in what you're saying.

 

[jje1000]

You believe that the mayor hired someone to murder the owner of the video? Just so I'm clear in what you're saying.

No one's sure of what's happening right now, so everything's up in the air. There's one thing we can be certain of, and it's that there's something going on behind the scenes. Staffers wouldn't be resigning if things were going smoothly.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Yeah, I'm sure you know exactly what they have to do in order to publish the video. You're a legal expert, right? Tell me about all the applicable laws and statutes they have to watch out for and step around, and how they can ensure legal action doesn't come against them for anything.

If you've been following any of this thread you'd have your answer. Oh, and there's possibly a murder involved over the alleged recording. I don't have to be a legal expert to tell you if the recording is in the hands of the media they would have received very careful legal advice before taking it public.

 

[King of Kensington]

As a Liberal, the BEST thing she can do is keep Conservative Rob Ford in power - so she can point at that ridiculous piece of crap as an example of Hudak's proposed policies.

Exactly. Wynne benefits politically from having Ford around.

 

[LowPolygon]

Reporter: Have you done any illegal drugs since you’ve been mayor?
Ford: Anything else?

Reporter: Have you tried to obtain the video, sir?
Ford: Anything else?

Reporter: Are you upset that Doug Holyday says he believes there’s a tape? Are you upset that the deputy mayor says he believes there’s a tape?
Ford: Anything else?

Reporter: The Premier has suggested she’s ready to step in if needed…
Ford: I think the Premier should take care of the problems that she has at Queen’s Park right now.

Reporter: Did you mention an address to David Price?
Ford: Anything else?

Reporter: How did you know Anthony Smith, sir?
Ford: Anything else?

Reporter: What’s going on in your office?
Ford: There’s nothing going on in my office. Obviously I’m bringing in new staff, and if people have a better opportunity I encourage them to move on.

Reporter: So you’re saying five people have better opportunities…
Ford: I don’t get into personnel matters, but maybe they can answer your question better than I can.

Reporter: Shouldn’t you step aside until the air is clear on this thing?
Ford: I’m not stepping aside. I’m running in the next election, and if the great people of this city want to go in a different direction, that’s what their prerogative is. But I guarantee my name will be on the ballot. I’ll be registering the first day I can possibly register, probably January 2. I can’t wait to get on the campaign trail. I want to thank the people of this city for the outpouring of support.

Reporter: Are you worried about the reputation of this city?
Ford: No, everything is going fine. I’m keeping taxes low, I’ve save a billion dollars, we’re getting things done. If you look at what we did at the executive committee we’re going down the right path, getting council reduced to 25. We’ve saved $65 million in the services that we’re working together. This city is in better shape, for sure, than it was two years ago. Our taxes are lower than any other North American city. I’ll put our city up against anyone.

Reporter: Is it respect for taxpayers to ignore such serious allegations? Is that respect for taxpayers, Mr. Mayor?
Ford: If you watch how you spend taxpayers’ money—I watched every dime, I continue to watch every dime, and we saved a billion dollars, reduced my own budget by $700,000, reduce council’s expense accounts by $900,000—that’s what you call respect for taxpayers.

 

[tiffer24]

The state of delusion in the Mayor's office is fast approaching North Korean gov't levels. What's tomorrow, Doug Ford will announce that Rob invented peanut butter?

 

[christof53]

I thought this photo of Rob's conference notes were interesting. If you look at the scribbled point, it says something like "Try and put yourself in their shoes, this has not been easy for any of us"

 

[datamouse]

Perhaps because the Mayor of London's press conferences aren't being carried live on CNN.

I haven't been following the London story but it seems to raise a fair point. If Fontana was charged with breech of trust then where's the outrage there? Ford is hugely unpopular but political positions should be separate from the scandal. All we have against Ford right now is conjecture (very strong conjecture) but in my opinion not enough to to go the route of legislative removal. Being guilty in the public eye and guilty on another level are two separate things. The allegations are believable and Ford needs to answer them but the precedent sent by the province intervening would be dangerous. The scandal is distracting from the rest of city business but that's hardly a reason to remove an elected official. For all intents and purposes it is business as usual at city hall even though the scandal is drawing all the attention away from other issues nothing has stopped working. The Mayor's office is in turmoil but an elected official shouldn't be forcibly removed for just doing a sub-par job - that's for an election.
As long as Ford is able to continue to carry out the duties of the office (showing up for meetings, etc.) the province should back off. No matter how terrible he is we shouldn't force him out (outside of an election) for being terrible but save it for the extreme. We should and must keep up the pressure for him to resign but that's different than taking the legislative approach to have him removed.

 

[MetroMan]

Ford says he's hiring new staff in the next couple of days. While this is happening, I think it's fair to say that the primary goal of anybody applying to work in his office is to take advantage of the situation, maybe hear something and get famous doing the media rounds. Nobody can seriously be applying to this job with professional stability and growth in their sights. Ford won't be able to trust his staff unless he hires all of his family.

It's never going to return to business as usual for Ford unless he wins another election at which point the media will just have to back off knowing that Toronto doesn't care about his problems. Meanwhile however, there's no way this can carry on for another year and a half. Just no way. He'll continue bleeding staff, no councillor will work with him -- including the majority of his former allies. How can this not be the end of Rob Ford? Yet, he's made it known in no uncertain terms that he won't step down.

I'd be interested to discuss how people think this will play out.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I haven't been following the London story but it seems to raise a fair point. If Fontana was charged with breech of trust then where's the outrage there? Ford is hugely unpopular but political positions should be separate from the scandal. All we have against Ford right now is conjecture (very strong conjecture) but in my opinion not enough to to go the route of legislative removal. Being guilty in the public eye and guilty on another level are two separate things. The allegations are believable and Ford needs to answer them but the precedent sent by the province intervening would be dangerous. The scandal is distracting from the rest of city business but that's hardly a reason to remove an elected official. For all intents and purposes it is business as usual at city hall even though the scandal is drawing all the attention away from other issues nothing has stopped working. The Mayor's office is in turmoil but an elected official shouldn't be forcibly removed for just doing a sub-par job - that's for an election.
As long as Ford is able to continue to carry out the duties of the office (showing up for meetings, etc.) the province should back off. No matter how terrible he is we shouldn't force him out (outside of an election) for being terrible but save it for the extreme. We should and must keep up the pressure for him to resign but that's different than taking the legislative approach to have him removed.

When did Wynne ever say that she was considering removing Ford? All she's said is that she's monitoring the situation. Would you rather her say that she's totally clueless about the situation at City Hall?

 

[cdr108]

seems like someone else is smoking the pipe

The latest from that Neil guy behind I Hate the War on Mayor Rob Ford is a hoot...

There could be nothing more undemocratic than an unelected, illegitimate "Premier" trying to force out a duly-elected Toronto mayor. And who is letting it happen? Tim "AWOL" Hudak. He has hung the Ontario Taxpayer out to dry, and now he's hanging the Toronto taxpayer out to dry. If there's one politician in Ontario that needs to go, it's Kathleen Wynne, and yet the one man with the power to at least try to make it happen, has ceded all of his power to the NDP. What we have at Queen's Park is a three-party coalition, and the coalition does not like to be challenged by Toronto's Mayor. We believe it is no coincidence that all of this nonsense began the moment Mayor Ford won the debate on Revenue Tooling of the people.

 

[Lenser]

seems like someone else is smoking the pipe

Amusing how, like any good editorialist, he resorts to the royal "we."

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

If no recording surfaces eventually the media circus surrounding it has to die down and then he wins with his base which could possibly get him a second term next year. As for brother Doug's escapades in the 80's, unless the Globe follows up that story will die quickly too. They are both appearing very emboldened again today which strikes fear in my heart.

Edit

Last Sunday on the Bob & Doug show Doug said something to the effect that "Rob has a thick skin, I do not". I laughed. After another week of this side-show I'm not laughing anymore.

 

[LowPolygon]

Memories,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were



Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were



Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?



Memories, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget



So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...