Ford’s health concerns force ‘holding pattern’
Mayor must make decision about taking his name off ballot before getting biopsy results on tumour
“He has some pain. We are giving him some pain medication for that. He’s surrounded by family members. And that’s about it.” DR. ZANE COHEN MT. SINAI HOSPITAL COLORECTAL SURGEON ON MAYOR ROB FORD
Rob Ford waits for a diagnosis. Toronto voters wait for clarity.
The mayor’s abdominal tumour has upended the city’s dramatic mayoral election as the clock ticks toward the deadline for candidates to withdraw: Friday at 2 p.m. Without the benefit of biopsy results that won’t be ready until next week, Ford has mere hours to decide whether to take his name off the ballot.
The deadline is in some ways artificial: Ford can simply stay on the ballot now and then terminate his candidacy informally at a later date. But Doug Ford must sign up by the deadline if he wants to give himself the possibility of taking his brother’s place. Doug Ford could theoretically sign up Friday as a backup plan, with his brother still on the ballot, but they would risk confusing voters on election day.
The mayor must make the difficult decision without knowing how healthy he is. He will not immediately receive the critical results of his Thursday biopsy, renowned Mt. Sinai Hospital colorectal surgeon Dr. Zane Cohen said at an evening news conference. Cohen refused to offer a prognosis. He said Ford is in a “holding pattern” for now.
“As a doctor we don’t deal in possibilities. We deal in facts. We don’t have those facts,” Cohen said. “We won’t have the biopsy result for another week. And when that happens we will inform the family and we will proceed from there.”
The Ford camp offered no insight into the brothers’ thinking. Press secretary Amin Massoudi said the mayor’s office was doing “business as usual.” Doug Ford, who is also his brother’s campaign manager, said he needed another day before speaking publicly.
The mayor was transferred Thursday to Mt. Sinai from Humber River Hospital, where he was admitted on Wednesday.
“As far as the clinical update, the clinical status of the mayor — he is resting comfortably,” Cohen said. “He has some pain. We are giving him some pain medication for that. He’s surrounded by family members. And that’s about it.”
Ford’s health problems have shaped the election that unsuccessful candidate David Soknacki this week said has “become a referendum” on the polarizing mayor. Ford missed two months, May and June, while receiving in-patient treatment at a Muskoka addiction facility.
His rivals, John Tory and Olivia Chow, tread carefully on Thursday while also continuing to campaign. Chow cancelled an endorsement announcement she had planned for the morning. At a Toronto Area Interfaith Council breakfast forum, she suggested that attendees pray for Ford.
A one-on-one Tory-Chow debate scheduled for Friday morning is proceeding as scheduled. Ford had withdrawn from the debate, organized by the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, before his hospitalization.
“Dozens of groups across the city have worked hard to put together events, many of which we confirmed months ago. These groups have hundreds of people coming out to hear from candidates,” said Tory spokeswoman Amanda Galbraith. “These organizations are encouraging us to continue with our schedule and we intend to honour our commitments. Obviously we are trying to be as sensitive as possible given the circumstances.”
Doug Ford, a businessman and conservative Etobicoke councillor, has not said whether he is at all interested in running; before this week, he openly expressed relief at the prospect of leaving city hall to return to his company and its U.S. operation in Chicago. He declined to address the campaign during a sombre news conference at Humber River on Wednesday night.
Friday is known as Nomination Day. Any candidate who has not withdrawn by 2 p.m. will appear on the ballot on election day, Oct. 27. Anybody who has not signed up by 2 p.m. will not appear on the ballot. It is common for candidates to end their candidacies after Nomination Day. In 2010, for example, Rocco Rossi dropped out of the race two weeks before the election. Because his name was still on the ballot, he got 5,012 votes — less than 1 per cent. Ford’s health scare has sidelined him as he attempts to mount a challenging comeback: he trailed by 12 percentage points in each of the last two polls. He is out of commission as Tory and Chow increase their campaign spending and launch advertising blitzes. Cohen did not use the word “tumour,” as Humber River chief executive Dr. Rueben Devlin did on Wednesday; Cohen referred to a “mass” in Ford’s “mid-to-lower abdomen.” He said Ford had CT scans, a biopsy and an ultrasound on Thursday and will have an MRI on Friday.
“It’s not part of the colon, necessarily,” Cohen said. “There are a lot of organs there. We are not absolutely sure at the moment.”
He said the mass is a “fair size.” Asked if he has seen benign masses of that size, he said yes. With files from Jennifer Pagliaro and Betsy Powell