‘I will be running for mayor,’ Doug Ford says

Doug Ford emerged from his mother’s house in Etobicoke Friday evening, walking down the patio steps into the back yard where hundreds of people were already eating hamburgers, waiting f or him to make an announcement. The particulars of that announcement, which was to take place during the annual Ford Fest barbecue for supporters of the family’s self- styled political dynasty, were supposed to be a surprise.

All the family would say was that it had to do with Ford’s political future, the subject of speculation since his defeat in Toronto’s 2014 mayoral election.

The question, as framed by the Fords, was whether Doug would focus on the municipal arena or t he provincial.

But most knew another mayoral bid was coming. Ford himself, in an interview with CP24, admitted it was “the world’s worst- kept secret.”

It was so certain that Mayor John Tory, who beat Ford by 64,000 votes, spoke to it earlier Friday.

“I think people will have to t hink l ong and hard about going back to the old way and the chaos that we saw three short years ago,” he said, a reference to the turbulent mayoralty of Ford’s late brother, Rob.

Doug’s appearance on the steps Friday night signalled to most that the announcement was imminent, and the crowd surged toward him, hollering . Thelma Doucette was among those trying to get closer, afraid he would start his speech then and there, beyond her earshot. She didn’t see the edge of the swimming pool.

Those craning for a look at Ford heard the splash and whipped around. Doucette was face down in the shallow end, her tan coat floati ng up around her head. The crowd seemed to freeze, t hinking about t he cellphones in their pockets. All she had to do was stand up. Doucette knew it too, but just couldn’t.

“I was shocked,” she said later.

One man knelt down and reached for her, but she was too far from the edge. Some- one else starting screaming.

John Aiello, who is dating Ford’s daughter Kyla, jumped into the water. Another woman did as well. Aiello reached Doucette first, and hugged her.

“I didn’t think,” he would later say. “I had my phone in my pocket.”

As Doucette was ushered into the house, where the family dried her clothes, Ford’s nephew Michael — a city councillor himself, now, in his late uncle Rob’s old ward — paced the pool deck with his hands on his head. “Oh my God,” he said.

Within the hour, though, Doug Ford had made it to the podium. The crowd in the elegant backyard had swelled, perhaps to more t han 1 , 000. Volunteers claimed they had run out of the 1,500 Ford- branded T- shirts they were giving away, collecting contact information from every guest.

On stage to i ntroduce Doug, a collection of conservative politicians — Toronto councillors Giorgio Mammoliti and Vincent Crisanti, Ontario MPP Monte McNaughton, and of course, nephew Michael — marvelled at how the following Rob had built was apparently ready to support Doug, who then took the microphone to make it official.

“I am here to continue Rob’s legacy,” Doug said. “I will be running for mayor of Toronto.”

The cr o wd cheered. Somewhere among their n u mb e r was Th e l ma Doucette, presumably drier, her enthusiasm undiluted.