Vacancy has family dynasty in limbo

Council will choose between appointment or byelection to fill Ford’s Etobicoke seat

Council must now decide whether to elect or appoint someone to the north Etobicoke seat that has been filled by a Ford for more than 15 years.

Councillor Rob Ford’s death leaves a vacant seat in Ward 2 well ahead of the regular election in 2018. The City of Toronto Act dictates that council must vote on whether a replacement representative should be appointed or a byelection held.

A byelection would leave the door open to a Ford — either elder brother and former Ward 2 councillor Doug Ford or their nephew and school board trustee Michael Ford — keeping the seat in the family name. Neither has said publicly whether they would run immediately following Rob’s death.

Following the death of a sitting councillor — which, including Ford, has only happened twice since amalgamation — council is required to declare Ford’s seat vacant at one of the next two council meetings, starting Wednesday and May 3.

Within 60 days of the seat being declared vacant, council must decide how to fill it. With the election more than 30 months away, it is likely council will vote to hold a byelection.

If council chooses to hold a byelection, the Municipal Elections Act mandates it take place within 105 days of council making that decision. When former Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre councillor Doug Holyday vacated his seat after winning a provincial byelection in mid-2013, it was Ford and others who pushed for a ward byelection. But council, citing an estimated $200,000 cost with 13 months left in the term, ultimately voted to appoint a replacement, retired salesman Peter Leon.

This could be the first time in 20 years that Etobicoke taxpayers are not represented by a Ford

Rob Ford was first elected to Ward 2 in 2000. He held that seat for a decade until winning his first mayoral bid in 2010. But the Ward 2 seat remained in the Ford family, with firsttime politician Doug Ford trouncing a field of unknowns.

“I’ve got big shoes to fill and I promise you, we won’t let you down,” Doug said just afterward. “We’ll always stand up for the little guy.”

The Ford dynasty was uncertain in 2014, when Rob was forced to abandon his mayoral re-election campaign following the discovery of a rare cancer.

At the time, the Ford’s nephew, Michael Ford, had his name on the Ward 2 ballot. Doug, acting as his brother’s campaign manager, was at first not on any ballot, saying he planned to step down from elected life after one term.

But with Rob’s health in question, a stunning political gambit saw Doug enter the mayoral race just minutes before deadline as Rob withdrew his name from the mayor’s race and signed up to claim his old seat in Ward 2, despite his apparent illness. Michael Ford was bounced to the Toronto District School Board trustee race in Ward 1 Etobicoke North, which he won.

Doug would be the only Ford to lose that year with a stronger-than-expected, second-place finish behind John Tory.

Tory’s election as mayor ended the Ford administration, but the Ward 2 council seat has, until now, remained safely in the Ford’s camp.

Doug Ford, who runs the family label-making business, has long mused publicly about a run for higher office. He said it was “the most difficult decision” of his life to not run for Ontario PC leadership in 2014, saying he needed to “take a little break” from politics.

His name has also recently been floated as a second-tier candidate to replace Stephen Harper as leader of the federal Conservative party.

The brothers’ foray into public office followed the one-term reign of their father, the late Doug Ford Sr. who served as a Conservative MPP until 1999.

Should the Ward 2 seat be filled by anyone else, it would be the first time in 20 years that Etobicoke taxpayers are not represented by a Ford.