02.01.2013 04:49 PM

Rob Ford broke the rules (again)

Just-released audit by a forensic accounting firm:

He broke the law again.

What will the law do about it? Do date, SFA. But, once again, Ford’s facing the (unlikely) prospect of being removed from office.

Still think this clown was worth voting for, those of you who did so?

58 Comments

  1. Peter says:

    I completely agree. This is disgusting, The man should be booted from office so he can run again and win in another landslide.

  2. Bluegreenblogger says:

    I have said it before, the conflict of interest case was narrow, and relatively harmless. Not excusing it mind you, but despite the big implications of the initial judgement, it was relatively minor offense, blown into serious consequences by hizzonner. The campaign spending case has much bigger implications for all elected politicians.

  3. CQ says:

    It was either Ford, Smitherman, or Rossi.
    2.5M citizens. 3 Universities and 3 Community Colleges – at my estimate, excluding the neighbouring suburbs. Nearly all of Canada’s banks and major media centres. An expansive Arts sector, as well as pro sports. No one else stood up to serve as our mayor.
    Therefore I still support Mayor Ford as my voting choice.

    • CONniver says:

      That’s actually quite well said….. Torontonans like to claim they’re all world (hmmmm) class.. but yet no body decent throws their name in the ring. This would never happen in most other cities. If Tory would have ran.. Ford would be an afterthought. Heck if anybody decent would have run.. they had a fair shot at winning.

    • bluegreenblogger says:

      You want perpetual conflict between the suburbs and the city core? Pretty stupid when there are so very many common interests for the whole region. Seriously, Ford has deliberately set us up for a generation of conflict. ‘Us against them’ the ‘burbs’ scooping all the dough from the biggest cash cow in Canada (downtown Toronto) to pay for plowing their sidewalks, and clearing autumn leaves.., whilst the TTC cannot afford to service their existing infrastructure, let alone build more subways. If a Mayor cannot broker between conflicting interests, the he or she has no business seeking the big chair. I do not ride a bicycle to work, and I don’t ever intend to, but you know what? If 60,000 people DO, and they are nice enough to make more room for motorized traffic, I sure as hell will not begrudge them the occasional bike lane. Who knows, maybe more people will be crazy enough to bike to work year round, and the downtown core will get an even bigger traffic relief. But Ford has made it inot a shallow `cause celebre` for dimwits to rail about. Boy, I could go on forever, but you get the picture. Haters, and ultra divisive politics do not serve any polity well, only the few band leaders who cash in on bigotry and ignorance.

      • CONniver says:

        And the beat goes on and on and on…
        Dude.. Welcome to the world of vested interests hijacking the political process and dividing the spoils of power. Name me one politician who did not end up being exposed of doing the same

  4. Ty says:

    It’s a municipal government.

    Garbage isn’t festering in the streets.

    I’m happy.

    • CONniver says:

      HaHaHaHa.. quite true. Kinda makes us think.. we just should let council vote issue by issue on matters. Nobody for Mayor.. we apparently don’t need one, and the bureacrat experts can consult the counsellors on a need to know basis.

      in fact.. if we ran Queen’s Park and Ottawa the same way, with all elected mambers voting issue by issue. We could do away with Premiers and PM’s. Problems always arise when power is concentrated and a few cadre of elites form an inner circle to manipulate.

      If we would just let the elected representatives.. do their thing…. corruption would be gone and transparency, equity , and fairness would prevail.

  5. David Rhind says:

    I would vote for him again in a heartbeat.

  6. CONniver says:

    blah blah blah
    Liberal.. Tory.. same old story!

    Our form of democracy means.. who ever gets in does what they want. We have no recourse. Chretien, McGuinty, Martin, Ford.. the names change.. our ability to have fair, honest, just representation never does.

    As Leonard Cohen once famousy said… “Everybody knows” – we just can’t do anything about it. The powerful elites, have their squeeze on us, and just like a python.. when the grip sets in.. we can’t get loose.

  7. Toronto’s narrative of melodrama triggers my spidey-senses about an understudy brother, not yet on-stage for the next municipal election. Rob “The Napalm” Ford, Doug as Mayor Kilgore; 2014 mayoral race “Places everybody” to set the scene — for Canada’s apocalypse … 2015.

    • CONniver says:

      Naaah Dougie will be running the province by then. Either that or he will be Municipal Affairs Minister under Hudak. That’s when the real damage will occur. I can just see Dougie passing the proverbial football Rob’s way and setting up the stage for transfers of power. Chicago ain’t seen nuthin yet!

  8. Paul says:

    I don’t really mind the guy. He truly does care, whether it be about the city and its finances, his constituents, or the kids he coaches in football. He personally called up a friend of mine recently (who does not even live in his ward) to discuss a complaint she had made to City Hall about something.

    Sure, he comes off as a bit of a buffoon, and I believe that there really *is* something of a leftist effort (not a conspiracy, but there is definitely a plan afoot) to try and oust him via legal means since they failed not do so via the ballot box (those meddling voters…) He is certainly no worse for the city than either of the also-rans would have been.

  9. Bloody Bounder says:

    No matter how many rules he breaks, Mayor Ford will ALWAYS be able to count
    on the ANGRY WHITE MALE vote. Ford Nation is filled with ignorant, common,
    uneducated, low class, blue collar, redneck white trash who voted for Mayor
    Ford because it was their passive aggressive way of “getting back” at things
    such as immigration, bilingualism, multiculturalism, Quebec, affirmative action,
    gun control, human rights commissions, women’s rights, gay rights, abortion
    rights, feminism, the decline of the smoke stack and blue collar jobs in
    manufacturing/resource extraction in favour of a more white collar knowledge
    economy where having post-secondary education is typically a requirement
    and speaking Cantonese/Mandarin/Punjabi/Hindi, ect; is a definite asset,
    the gentrification of working class low income neighbourhoods in favour of
    walls of ivory tower condos, the perception among many ANGRY WHITE
    MALES that both women and people of colour are increasingly being
    promoted by the media and Hollywood, and a litany of other gripes.

    In sum, Ford Nation, while it does have some Uncle Tom visible minorities
    and recent immigrants who were attracted to Mayor Ford’s promise to
    lower thier business and property taxes, his core grassroots voting base
    is and was primarily motivated by the perception that he is and was the
    “GREAT WHITE HOPE” for the “ANGRY WHITE MALE” who increasingly
    feels demographically displaced by visible minorities in the City of
    Toronto and rendered irrelevant (especially the older uneducated
    blue collar types of ANGRY WHITE MALES) the creeping requirement
    of most employers these days that job applicants possess a University
    degree and who are preferably fluent in one or more language (which
    gives an instant advantage to those who are foreign born and/or
    raised in a family who’s mother tongue is other than English).

    The highly assimilated, unilingual, unhyphenated, propertied, suburban,
    SUV owning, and typically middle aged/retired Toronto Male of
    WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANT origin saw voting for Mayor Ford,
    especially when Mayor Ford publicly stated that “there are too many
    immigrants coming to Toronto” (when the City of Toronto is over 60%
    foreign born) and “Toronto should be a refugee free zone”, as more
    than just an endorsement of his socio-economic policy proposals,
    but also a passive aggressive belated slap in the fact at Pierre
    Trudeau.

    Many Liberals, NDP and Greens have said in recent years that progressives
    must get down in the gutter and wage a war against Conservatives, who
    through right-wing talk radio and other mediums attack “uppity immigrants,
    feminazis, ivory tower liberal intellectuals, radical homosexual agendas,
    tree huggers, ect”. I personally believe that the best way to electorally
    smash Ford Nation, the Tea Party, ect; is to wage a cruel, spiteful and
    unrelenting war against the image of the quintessential ignorant, common,
    uneducated, low class, blue collar, uncouth, unrefined, tactless, slovenly
    dressed, mindlessly populist, obese, redneck white trash pig.

    In sum, we need to make it deeply embarrassing and publicly shameful
    to FAT, UGLY, DISGUSTING REDNECK WHITE TRASH and also we need
    to mock and shame the trappings of right-wing populist BLUE COLLAR
    culture such as NASCAR, WWE, MONSTER TRUCKS, PICKUP TRUCKS,
    and the bearded, shave headed, tattooed, fat gut, Joe Six Pack sack
    of common, ignorant, low class, blue collar, WHITE TRASH shit that
    belongs in the gutter.

    Rob Ford, Doug Ford, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, Don Cherry,
    Jack MacLaren, Randy Hillier, ect; are the folk heroes for millions
    of VILE AND DISGUSTING FAT, UGLY REDNECK WHITE TRASH
    many of whom wear JOHN DEERE baseball caps and stink of
    stale tobacco smoke.

    You would not believe the hatred and contempt at Ford rallies,
    of which I attended two during the Summer of 2010, for welfare
    recepitents, even those on disability, affirmative action, feminists,
    gays/lesbians, public transit users, immigrants, refugees, Quebec,
    bilingualism, multiculturalism, progressive taxation, ect. Ford Nation
    are truly the SA brown shirts of our time.

    So many of them at these rallies were blue collae low class common
    stock too such as house painters, drywall hangers, brick layers,
    truck drivers, ect. Where were all the lawyers, accountants, academics,
    immigrant shop owners, teachers, ect?. It was a sea of BLUE COLLAR
    WHITE MEN who were dressed like disgusting slobs most with a beer
    in hand.

    • smelter rat says:

      Tell us how you really feel!

    • Matt says:

      I have never read such nonsense in my life.

      • David Smith says:

        If we spewed out the phrase ______ “TRASH” about anybody on this or any other internet site we would likely find ourselves hauled before a human rights tribunal and/or being charged with hate crimes; yet of course, we can be vilified in this most crude fashion. As a former Rhodesian, you can imagine my disquiet at the continual demonization of “WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANTS” in these pages. Forgive me if I don’t share your Marxist dreams of utopia.

        “wage a cruel, spiteful and unrelenting war against” sounds like terrorism – it was a homegrown Marxist group that blew up the United States embassy in Ankara…

      • Canada Joe says:

        You know, I could slag jibbering BROWN Indian women who make no sense, but who are we kidding that is unfair to vast majority of them, or anyone else for that matter, who doesn’t hold those views. You are one sick twisted lady. I wonder why the Liberals keep some one like you as far away from a mic as possible.

        Still, please keep-up your nasty, vile, classist, racist and plainly stupid nonsense. If anything it is good for a laugh.

        P.S, you forgot mangicake so you must be slipping.

    • Justin says:

      What a load of garbage, you must be severly ignorant or a right wing troll trying to make progressive minded people look like assholes. You sir is what is wrong with politics these days. This coming from a liberal blue collared slob.

    • que sera sera says:

      Nurie is that you?

    • Gary says:

      Hawa Hawa

    • Cath says:

      just a note to say that I never read this essay. Only posting this to suggest that you consider the KISS theory of blog posting. OOOPs….make that WK’s website. My bad.

  10. CONniver says:

    And that’s just the way the power elite’s want you to think. Trust me Just like Johnny Crouton was not the little guy from Shawinigan… Ford is not handled by the bafoons you so speak of. The guy has serious access to power corridors. And the fact that most people don’t know it or would never believe it is just the narrative they want.

  11. Bruce A says:

    Let’s face it. The ‘personal touch’ is what wins for Ford. Ordindary people like to be acknowledged by those in positions of power, authority or status. It goes to their head and makes the heart flutter. Some people are just suckers for it. But I think there are plenty who want to brush up with ‘greatness’.

    Nothing like selling yourself short and the Cons love ya for it.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/09/07/open_hospitality_at_mayor_rob_fords_family_barbecue_dimanno.html

  12. Thomas Gallezot says:

    Didn’t vote for him last time. Will probably vote for him next time. Unless Olivia Chow is a candidate. But she won’t.

  13. Sean says:

    Toronto needs a center / left candidate that everyone can get behind. A divided progressive vote is the real story of Rob Ford.

  14. George says:

    The only thing you can be sure of is Ford will stop being mayor long before magnet retires the upcoming costs order!!!7

  15. Hugh Whalen says:

    3%? Really? 3%. He should be removed for that?

    Should he have done it? No.

    Do we even know it was done on purpose? No.

    Want to hold it against him? Fine.

    Want to use it as a reason to vote against him next time? Fair enough.

    Should he be removed from office for that? No.

    Zero tolerance is for fools who are afraid to exercise judgement.

    • TDotRome says:

      Ummm, the last time I checked, the only people who advocate for zero tolerance anything are right-wingers. Except, of course, when it comes to there own kind.

  16. deb s says:

    Rob Ford, you gotta love how the rules dont apply to him. Hopefully Toronto remembers his style come election time.

  17. PETER says:

    We get the government we deserve.

  18. Bloody Bounder says:

    Many of you have misunderstood my meaning. I do not hate you or anyone else for the colour of her skin. What I hate is a system that confers privileges (and burdens) on people because of their colour. It is not fair skin that makes people white; it is fair skin in a certain kind of society, one that attaches social importance to skin colour. When I say that I want to abolish the white race, I do not mean I want to exterminate people with fair skin. I mean that I want to do away with the social meaning of skin colour, thereby abolishing the white race as a social category. Consider this parallel: To be against royalty does not mean wanting to kill the king. It means wanting to do away with crowns, thrones, titles, and the privileges attached to them. In my view, whiteness has a lot in common with royalty: they
    are both social formations that carry unearned advantages.

    Ford Nation is filled with the evils of White privilege, Whiteness, White supremacy and Anglo-Saxon chauvinism.

    Lastly, Blue Collar Culture, not Blue Collar jobs, largely glorifies ignorance, hyper-masculinity, homophobia, sexism,
    misogyny, isolationism, xenophobia, spousal abuse, aggression, ultra-violence, and anti-intellectualism. There is no
    reason why a plumber, house painter, brick layer, construction worker, ect; can’t come home at watch PBS, play the
    cello, and drink imported french wine. Blue Collar jobs are frequently not a choice for many, as post-secondary education
    is expensive, but partaking in Blue Collar culture is most certainly a choice. Many people in White Collar jobs such as
    accounting and paralegals partake in Blue Collar culture with its knee jerk reactionary and right-wing populist bullshit
    which is designed to assuage the inferiority complexes of uneducated, unrefined, uncouth, tactless, Alpha White Male
    brutes who are slovenly dressed and cannot articulate themselves in intellectual discourse.

    • Canada Joe says:

      Yeah, all cultures are welcome…..as long as they are ones you like. Pfff, imported French wine. Do listen to how you talk? You are nothing but a bigoted, closed minded elitist snob. And frankly if your values reflect those of the Liberal Party, than yeah you deserve 30 seats, most likely less. Are these big tent Liberal values on display here? Others care to chime in? Warren?

  19. Bloody Bounder says:

    The white race is a historically constructed social formation. It consists of all those who partake of the privileges of the white skin in this society. Its most wretched members share a status higher, in certain respects, than that of the most exalted persons excluded from it, in return for which they give their support to a system that degrades them.

    The key to solving the social problems of our age is to abolish the white race, which means no more and no less than abolishing the privileges of the white skin. Until that task is accomplished, even partial reform will prove elusive, because white influence permeates every issue, domestic and foreign, in US society.

    The existence of the white race depends on the willingness of those assigned to it to place their racial interests above class, gender, or any other interests they hold. The defection of enough of its members to make it unreliable as a predictor of behavior will lead to its collapse.

    RACE TRAITOR aims to serve as an intellectual center for those seeking to abolish the white race. It will encourage dissent from the conformity that maintains it and popularize examples of defection from its ranks, analyze the forces that hold it together and those that promise to tear it apart. Part of its task will be to promote debate among abolitionists. When possible, it will support practical measures, guided by the principle, Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity.

    The editors publish things in RACE TRAITOR because they think that publishing them will help build a community of readers. Editorial opinions are expressed in editorials and unsigned replies to letters.

    http://www.racetraitor.org

    • Sean says:

      This is what the interweb is all about!

    • Ed Frink says:

      Thank you for posting that link. I think it’s wonderfully written and it could cure bigoted white males of their hatred if only they had an open mind.

      Hopefully with more immigration, conservatives like Rob Ford will be unelectable in the future. And with more immigration, we can increase affirmative action to reward those who believe in the progressive point of view.

  20. George says:

    This “bloody bounder” is a plant,right? I mean no one could actually live with that hateful linear world view ,unless they have Internet access at the Queen st health facility?

  21. Canada Joe says:

    Race traitor? Abolish the white race? What other races need to be abolish? What a load of B.S. You do know people laugh at this stuff right?

    • Bloody Bounder says:

      What is your level of education?

      Do you have a University degree?

      • Stuart du Kamp says:

        I do and I think you are an idiot as well.

      • Sean says:

        well… I have a degree in Poly Sci and Philosophy. I’m also a beer swilling white guy who loves sports and says bad words when the call doesn’t go my way. Got a problem with that?!

      • Jason King says:

        Um your level of education isn’t impressing anyone Nurie. Its your frequency to resort to racism that is providing you this reaction.

        Get some help Nurie, please. Or at least stop using this as a place to vent your racism. It’s not adding anything to the discourse.

        • Canada Joe says:

          What does it matter? I could be the most educated person on earth, but I would still be a sub-human to you because of my skin colour and sex. That, my friends, is what is called bigotry.

    • Canada Joe says:

      You can dress up your bigotry with all the hokey pokey intellectual B.S you want. But, I think most people see right through your poorly constructed cloak and clearly see the rascist, sexist and classit hate monger you are.

    • Jason King says:

      Nurie, you have submitted that article as a defense three times previous. It is an opinion article written by someone with no credibility in the field.

      What you are expressing is racism plain and simple. No need to dolly it up with a fancy precursor so you can deny your reality

    • Jason King says:

      Oh I found an example of your classic hypocrisy Nurie.

      http://warrenkinsella.com/2012/05/pmo-boss-1-biggest-asshole-in-canada-0/#comment-73758

      “People tend to “know their
      place” far more outside of North America, and I do not think that is necessarily a bad thing.”

      How about you keep your classist rants to yourself. Come on Nurie, we all know its you and we’ve been down this road before. Pedal your racist views elsewhere

  22. deb s says:

    trolls exist across all races and cultures:P The solution is the same, starve the beast and it moves on!

  23. Fred says:

    Unfortunately she didn’t:

    “Thank you for this timely message. Firstly, please allow me to apologize for causing you any sort of grief
    or aggravation, as a result of my childish, immature and silly comments. Secondly, I have decided that
    this will be my last post on your web site, as while I would fully conform to your rules if I were to continue
    to post, I feel very bad for upsetting you. Thirdly, you are quite correct that I have posted “race based crap”
    and for that I am truly sorry for that”

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