The travesty of Rob Ford’s mayoralty must end, now, with his resignation. If he refuses, more drastic measures may be warranted.
Like other newspapers, we have called on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to step down. In light of this week’s fresh allegations (some of which the Mayor has admitted are well-founded), we repeat this call. Rob Ford is unfit to hold any sort of public office, much less the mayoralty of Canada’s largest city.
Many of the pundits who have called for Mr. Ford to resign have steeped their pleas in a more-in-pity-than-anger tone. The Mayor plainly is plagued by a variety of profound personal problems. He does not seem to enjoy a happy life: One of the claims made in the largely unredacted police document released this week is that he repeatedly called a staff member, crying and unhinged, from his father’s gravesite. As with many binge drinkers and illegal drug users, his selfdestructive indulgences likely are an effort at emotional selfmedication. Clearly, the man should get help.
But this Dr. Phil approach to Rob Ford only takes us so far. Lots of people have expressed concern about his reckless lifestyle — including, reportedly, various city hall staffers (some of whom reportedly were dismissed for their efforts). By all appearances, the Mayor — enabled by equally self-deluded family enablers — simply has dismissed this advice as a disguised form of political criticism. As with all addicts, there comes a point in time when the abused bystander (in this case, the city itself ) must move on from helping the addict, to protecting oneself from his toxic presence.
The word “protect” is the correct one, because the most recent revelations about Mr. Ford indicate that his actions have not just put his own health at risk, but that of others as well. This week, for instance, Mr. Ford confessed to drunk driving — a crime that kills over 1,000 Canadians every year. It is not necessary to recite here the many lurid details reported by staffers and former staffers in regard to Mr. Ford’s bingedrinking habits. (By at least one report, Mr. Ford doesn’t just drink before driving — he actually drinks while driving.) The idea that he would endanger the residents of the city he says he “loves” by hitting a vodka mickey before (or while) taking the wheel shows that he lacks the judgment required of any elected official.
Nor is this the only aspect of the Mayor’s personal behaviour that directly touches on questions of public safety. Many Torontonians were outraged by the fact that their Mayor is an admitted illegal drug user. But what is more outrageous are the after-the-fact actions that emerged from that usage: For months, Mr. Ford’s closest operative and confidante was Alexander Lisi, who stands accused of a criminal-extortion plot to retrieve a cellphone video of Mr. Ford smoking from a crack pipe in the company of notorious Toronto gang members. Various characters involved in this drama have been beaten and, in at least one case, killed. Mr. Ford currently does not stand accused of having a legally provable role in these events. But his relationship with Mr. Lisi (they exchanged 349 phone calls in the space of 44 days following media reports of the crack video’s existence), a known lowlife and former criminal convict, is thoroughly appalling.
Space does not permit a recitation of all of the other allegations that came to light in the recently released court documents — including accusations of vile racist and homophobic commentary, vulgar abuse toward staff members and profane sexual references. Although many of the claims made about Mr. Ford’s behaviour have not been proven, the fact that he lied to his constituents about smoking crack for so long has sullied his reputation in the minds of many Torontonians. His refusal to truly take responsibility for his actions by stepping aside is a slap in the face to the city’s voters.
The fact that Mr. Ford is getting his 15 minutes of fame on late-night talk shows and in the international media makes it tempting to dismiss the man as a sort of surreal reality show unto himself. (His use of unprintable sexual slang at city hall on Thursday, and the bizarre context in which he used his wife as a camera prop during Thursday’s daily media circus, certainly added a touch of reality TV trash to the proceedings.) But it’s important to remember that this man is not some fictional construct: He is a public servant, disgracing the city he purportedly leads.
The travesty of his mayoralty must end, now, with his resignation. If he refuses, more drastic measures may be warranted.
We are hesitant to call on the provincial government, which itself is facing a criminal investigation, to step in and unseat a democratically elected mayor. The proper remedy would be to introduce recall legislation, so the voters can decide Mr. Ford’s fate. Without it, it’s hard to see any alternative to the province getting involved, if Mr. Ford refuses to leave on his own.