Ford a political bull in china shop
Rob Ford had left the picture, forced by a cancer diagnosis to abandon his 2014 bid for re-election as Toronto’s mayor.
But one of the late-night shows that helped make him an international celebrity for all the wrong reasons had discovered a convenient replacement.
Doug Ford was running in his younger brother’s place and already making embarrassing gaffes, charged John Oliver on Last Week Tonight.
Ford was unsuccessful in that mayoral bid, but now he’s near the end of a campaign for leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives with some notable achievements under his belt.
His policy pronouncements have been echoed by his rivals, he’s travelled tirelessly around the province to meet Conservatives and presented a stable face for a party beset by chaos.
But to many Ontarians and anyone else who knows the Ford name, Doug will forever be linked with his late brother’s tumultuous, scandal-filled reign as mayor.
He was a city councillor at the time and Rob’s relentless champion, even after the mayor admitted to smoking crack cocaine and sinking into “drunken stupors” while in office.
As online voting for the next PC leader begins, Ford’s biggest challenge may be overcoming that — and his own reputation as a political bull in a china shop.
“He’s a highly, highly polarizing political figure,” says Myer Siemiatycki, a Ryerson University politics professor.
And yet, rather than shrink from those years, Ford has made them part of his campaign. He points out that he and his brother eliminated an unpopular city tax and cut costs in ways applicable to the debt-laden provincial government.
Unlike the other Tory leadership contenders, “I actually governed,” Ford insisted at a debate earlier this month. He has also posted videos and quotes from his brother online, perhaps recognizing that, for at least one segment of conservative voters, the Ford brand in all its permutations is still golden.
Until Patrick Brown resigned as Tory leader last month, Ford had been planning to run for mayor again.
But after entering the leadership race instead, he became the first candidate to say he would rescind Brown’s plan to introduce a carbon tax. He also led the way in suggesting a revamp of the Liberals’ sexeducation curriculum.
“He’s not going to be led by the nose by either insiders or outsiders,” says supporter Frank Klees, a former Conservative cabinet minister. “He’s going to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.”
Ford’s approach was honed as part of a political dynasty like few others in Canada.
His dad Doug Sr. entered politics in 1995, winning a seat in the provincial legislature as part of Mike Harris’s PC government.
Rob was first elected to Toronto city council in 2000. It wasn’t until his brother’s 2010 mayoral bid that Doug Jr. launched his own campaign in Rob’s old ward.
Both harnessed voter resentment of “elites,” although the Fords grew up in a mansion in Etobicoke, which became their political fiefdom, and Doug Jr. inherited his father’s business, Deco Labels and Tags.
Arriving at city hall, he had trouble adjusting to a more constrained role.
“He believed the bureaucracy existed to serve the mayor or in this case the Ford family. That if you were the mayor’s brother, you could kind of assert yourself as co-mayor,” said former colleague John Filion. “He kind of thought, you know, that the smart brother got left out here.”
Doug also attracted controversy: a tiff with Margaret Atwood over library closings; a proposal for a monorail and ferris wheel at Toronto’s waterfront; and a rebuke from the city ’s ethics commissioner for his advocacy of a company connected to Deco.
In 2013, there were even allegations that Doug had been a teenage drug dealer (which he vehemently denies). Doug could by “very affable” at city hall. But only to a point.
“He’s a total jerk … if he doesn’t get his way. That’s when he gets mean,” said an ex-staffer who asked for anonymity.
Doug lashed out at journalists, accusing them of lying when reports surfaced of a video of his brother smoking crack.
He accused former Toronto police chief Bill Blair of leaking a court document with embarrassing information about the mayor because of cuts to the force’s budget.
When the mayor admitted to much of what had been reported, his older brother seemed gobsmacked, genuinely “shocked,” said Filion.
He’s a total jerk … if he doesn’t get his way. That’s when he gets mean.
Some critics have suggested Doug enabled his brother’s addiction. But Klees sees his support as a sign of character and dedication to the siblings’ shared ideals.
“Notwithstanding what demons his brother may have been facing, here’s a man who stood by,” Klees said.
Even critics do not discount Doug’s potential for success in provincial politics.
“Doug can function in any environment,” says Filion.
“He really has that survival instinct, that crocodile brain.”