THE LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST DOUG FORD BY ROB FORD’S WIDOW — NO MATTER HOW IT IS RESOLVED — IS A SIGN OF THE CHAOS THAT LIES AHEAD SHOULD THE TORY LEADER WIN THE ONTARIO ELECTION.
Expect more from Canada’s First Family of Drama
After three months of interminable comparisons between Doug Ford and Donald Trump, Monday brought us an unpleasant but useful reminder: The unusual politician seemingly poised to become Ontario’s next premier needs no foreign analogue. He is first, foremost and forever a Ford. He honed his political persona long before Trump honed his, and his family is central to it. Rob and Doug are a package deal even today, more than two years after Rob’s death.
And where Fords go, chaos follows. There are few surer things in life.
Renata Ford, Rob’s widow, alleges in a $16.5-million lawsuit that Doug not only failed in his basic duties as executor of the estate, but purloined assets rightfully belonging to her and her children to prop up Deco, the Ford family’s adhesive label concern. She alleges Deco was catastrophically mismanaged by Doug and Randy Ford, the quiet brother in the cowboy hat: there was no business plan; they hired incompetent cronies and family members to fill positions that weren’t needed or for which they were unqualified; they made many ill-fated money-losing acquisitions; they neglected to obtain sound advice to compensate for their incompetence; and through it all they rewarded themselves with lavish salaries and perks.
None of these allegations have been tested in court. Doug vows they will be, calling them “completely false.” And because this is the Fords we’re talking about, Doug’s mom weighed in. “It is heartbreaking that Renata has chosen to bring forward these false and baseless allegations against our family, right in the middle of the provincial election campaign,” Diane Ford said in a statement.
“Renata has serious struggles with addiction,” she added, twisting the knife, “and our hope is that she will accept help for the sake of herself and my grandchildren.”
Good gravy, those poor kids.
Theoretically, the very specific allegations could be big trouble for Ford. The Ford brand has always involved running government like a business. Doug now stands accused of running his business like … well, like the Liberals ran the Ontario government, for instance. Furthermore, he is accused of “knowingly and deliberately” putting his sisterin-law, niece and nephew “in a highly stressful and unfair financial position during their period of grief after Rob Ford’s death, and contin (uing) to do so for more than two years.”
It’s a bad look, needless to say. But a good chunk of Ontarians have already voted. (Pro tip: When a Ford is involved, always wait until the last minute.) These are just allegations; it’s just one side of the story. And sadly, it’s hardly unusual for families to fight bitterly amongst themselves over lucrative estates.
As someone who lived through the Ford mess in Toronto, both as a journalist and a citizen, it’s not the specific allegations that concern me most. It’s knowing that our premier-in-waiting couldn’t even make it to election day without a mad personal sideshow setting up shop next to him, shooting up fireworks and blasting circus marches. And it’s imagining what Queen’s Park might look like if Ford’s “efficiencies” agenda goes as well as it did at Toronto City Hall.
I envision a permanent protest camp on the lawn, endless drumming, people storming committee meetings, shirtless men hounding Ford in the streets, an annual rending of garments over the premier’s attendance or non-attendance at Pride, a constant war with the media — absolutely no end of distractions from the work of government. (People often tell me how much fun it must be for journalists to cover this brand of madness. Personally, I find it depressing as hell. I have to live in this joint.)
It remains a mystery to me why the NDP and Liberal campaigns focused so little on Ford’s time at City Hall. Some suggest it would have been seen as maligning a dead man, but you needn’t even mention Rob’s name to show that Doug’s boasting of huge pain-free spending cuts does not hold water. The NDP and Liberal campaigns insist Ford will cut billions from health care and education; Ford insists he won’t. It’s a he-said/she-said situation — or it would be if Ford didn’t have a record of proudly supporting cuts at City Hall. He voted to cut bus routes, to sell community housing units, against accepting provincial funding for new public health nurses. This is a man who said he’d close a library to save money “in a heartbeat.”
It’s a killer quote. The NDP and Liberals made nothing of it.
Ford’s votes weren’t indefensible. But they did not reflect what Rob promised Toronto’s voters, which is the same basic thing Doug has promised Ontario’s.
Rob certainly didn’t promise four years of chaos, but he delivered in spades. Now we already have the prospect of his widow fighting his brother in open court.
At the best of times, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives are a machine that produces chaos. With a Ford at the helm, in government, the sky’s the limit. I really hope I’m wrong.