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Who Will Challenge Rob Ford?

Or else the old saws about him being a candidate for a fatal coronary (or assassination)
 
MetroMan said:
Has that ever happened in modern times? Has a Mayor left office mid term? I don't think Ford would do it voluntarily, so the only mechanism for this to happen would be if Ford broke a law and got jail time. Sadly (yet satisfyingly), when you think of this Mayor of Toronto, that's not a far fetched idea.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Barry an interesting character indeed
 
Maybe Smitherman will give it another shot (God no)) Vaughan is definately putting in feelers as he was seen canvassing with Helen Burstyn (the Liberal MPP candidate in Beaches East York).

Maybe Bob Rae will make an Appearance, after his 2 year term as Interm Leader, he'll need a head job at some level.
 
js97 said:
Maybe Bob Rae will make an Appearance, after his 2 year term as Interm Leader, he'll need a head job at some level.
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Hey, you know the last time we considered Bob Rae in this discussion, he was the likely successor to Ignatieff so we wrote him off. Now that's not the case as he's already committed to not running for the leadership when the permanent successor is chosen. So you're right: In 2 years, Bob Rae will indeed be looking for a job. I think he's still popular in Toronto, just not in rural more conservative Ontario. The question is: would he want the job?
 
MetroMan said:
Has that ever happened in modern times? Has a Mayor left office mid term? I don't think Ford would do it voluntarily, so the only mechanism for this to happen would be if Ford broke a law and got jail time. Sadly (yet satisfyingly), when you think of this Mayor of Toronto, that's not a far fetched idea.
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Toronto finds itself in an unprecedented situation, and I expect more of the same for a while. The FordTwins are not slow learners, they are non-learners who will probably get very frustrated. Resignations, whether forced or voluntary, are not outside of the realm of the possible. Rob Ford has shown a stunning lack of leadership and an unfathomable amount of carelessness.

W. K. Lis said:
What would be weird would be if Rob Ford does not run again, and Doug Ford tries to make a go at the mayor's job. They seem to be interchangeable.
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Doug Ford has been shown up now, at City Hall. He may be so beaten up after, say, three years of this, then he may lose any further ambition in politics. Everything is way above his head, it seems.

I am pleased that the FordTwins have been handled properly by council, as of yesterday.
 
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I've just thought of a mechanism to "impeach" Ford. While there is no law to do so right now, if Ford manages to piss off enough of council and/or if the citizens of Toronto begin to call en masse for Ford to exit (bringing some iffy councillors in line), it is perfectly conceivable that council can set forth a motion to ask the provincial government to introduce recall legislation. If McGuinty gets re-elected, I think that the province would welcome that request. It really is that simple.

I wouldn't want it to be "easy" to recall a Mayor so a 2/3rds majority of council would be necessary to call a referendum to do so. City Hall and Torontonians would have to be united in wanting a Mayor to be kicked out so this wouldn't happen often. Ford is the perfect example of a Mayor who has the potential to unite the city in wanting him out.

Ford has put himself into a corner by basing his entire campaign on a single premise: that there is so much gravy at city hall and that by cutting the gravy he can balance the books without cutting services. Given that everybody remembers that single promise, Ford is accountable to to meeting it. He can not. We already knew it was impossible, Ford can not deliver. Regardless of what he does, he will be seen as a failure, and as a liar. He's toast.
 
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MetroMan said:
I've just thought of a mechanism to "impeach" Ford. While there is no law to do so right now, if Ford manages to piss off enough of council and/or if the citizens of Toronto begin to call en masse for Ford to exit (bringing some iffy councillors in line), it is perfectly conceivable that council can set forth a motion to ask the provincial government to introduce recall legislation. If McGuinty gets re-elected, I think that the province would welcome that request. It really is that simple.

I wouldn't want it to be "easy" to recall a Mayor so a 2/3rds majority of council would be necessary to call a referendum to do so. City Hall and Torontonians would have to be united in wanting a Mayor to be kicked out so this wouldn't happen often. Ford is the perfect example of a Mayor who has the potential to unite the city in wanting him out.

Ford has put himself into a corner by basing his entire campaign on a single premise: that there is so much gravy at city hall and that by cutting the gravy he can balance the books without cutting services. Given that everybody remembers that single promise, Ford is accountable to to meeting it. He can not. We already knew it was impossible, Ford can not deliver. Regardless of what he does, he will be seen as a failure, and as a liar. He's toast.
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It would be either Liberal majority, NDP majority (unlikely), or a minority with Liberals or NDP in the lead. The PC's would not, either in a majority or minority role.
 
MetroMan said:
I've just thought of a mechanism to "impeach" Ford. While there is no law to do so right now, if Ford manages to piss off enough of council and/or if the citizens of Toronto begin to call en masse for Ford to exit (bringing some iffy councillors in line), it is perfectly conceivable that council can set forth a motion to ask the provincial government to introduce recall legislation. If McGuinty gets re-elected, I think that the province would welcome that request. It really is that simple.

I wouldn't want it to be "easy" to recall a Mayor so a 2/3rds majority of council would be necessary to call a referendum to do so. City Hall and Torontonians would have to be united in wanting a Mayor to be kicked out so this wouldn't happen often. Ford is the perfect example of a Mayor who has the potential to unite the city in wanting him out.

Ford has put himself into a corner by basing his entire campaign on a single premise: that there is so much gravy at city hall and that by cutting the gravy he can balance the books without cutting services. Given that everybody remembers that single promise, Ford is accountable to to meeting it. He can not. We already knew it was impossible, Ford can not deliver. Regardless of what he does, he will be seen as a failure, and as a liar. He's toast.
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I don't see how it would ever get to that point. Once there are a solid block of councillors working against the mayor, his powers become relatively few. If his popularity continues to tank, even right-leaning types like Denzil Minnan-Wong will be smart enough to jump ship and play games.
 
It could be as simple as a personal incident like the one at the ACC, a DUI, or continuing to go behind council's back and negotiating with parties or other deals that constitute a failure to comply with the lobby registry. Those are all likely to happen, knowing Ford -- specially if his brother loses his grip over him.

Any scandal dishonouring the chain of office is going to have the city and councillors calling for the Mayor to resign. His failure to do so could result in council going to the province to force him out. Even his executive is tiring of him and we're not even at the end of his first year.

I realized how bad a Mayor Ford would be long before he even announced but I did not think that he would sink this fast. Ford is not going to last 4 years at this pace.
 
I can see Doug Ford quitting on his own accord, i.e. to go back to his Chicagoland-and-wherever business wheeling-dealings. (Somehow, I can't see him quite the ever-available "ward constituency guy" his brother was.)
 
W. K. Lis said:
It would be either Liberal majority, NDP majority (unlikely), or a minority with Liberals or NDP in the lead. The PC's would not, either in a majority or minority role.
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It could also be a coalition government. Could Hudak sell the NDP on a proper coalition government? This is what happened in the UK, where the right-wing Conservatives, formed a coalition with the left wing Liberal Democrats, by-passing the more centrist Labour party.
 
Remember, earlier in the thread we were talking about massive protests against Ford and somebody poo poo'd the idea saying Torontonians wouldn't be that engaged? Well, it's starting to happen. There were 1000+ people at today's rally, and people on the street who didn't know ahead about the protest were joining in. This will snowball if Ford continues his high profile destruction of the Toronto that we love.

I realize I may be having an exercise in wishful thinking but I don't think that Ford can stay in office a full 4 years if these protests continue to snowball. Heck, maybe the province will grant us our wish and de-alamgamate and Ford can be Mayor of Etobicoke (if they still want him).
 
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