Ford is the wolf who cried wolf.
Sometimes Doug Ford poses a political threat, other times he just seems to want attention
Doug Ford presents an interesting variation on the old folk tale: He is the wolf who cried wolf.
The former city councillor, former mayoral candidate, brother of late mayor Rob Ford, now-private citizen and public all-purpose political shouter is pretty much always howling. Sometimes when he has done so in the past, he has alerted his opponents to a genuine political threat he poses, in the form of his flair for media manipulation and the sway he holds over the still-considerable populist political movement his younger brother built up in Toronto. Other times, he just seems to want attention.
Either way, so far, he gets everyone running and worrying and talking, though like the boy in the story, he also may begin to test the patience and attention spans of the townspeople — or at least the members of the press he relies on to cry out to them.
Genuine threat: recall the September day in 2014 when he held a press conference at the Ford Family compound — his mother’s backyard — in Etobicoke that turned the city’s election on its head. That day, he announced his infamous brother Rob had been diagnosed with cancer, and that he, Doug, would be replacing him on the ballot as a candidate for mayor. He came within 6.5 per cent of winning the vote in that election.
Cry for attention: On Tuesday, two years and one day later, Ford summoned the media to the exact same spot for an unspecified “very special announcement.”
His free-range political thundering and his well-known considerable estimation of himself is such that he is currently considered a credible candidate for mayor (and, more immediately, the vacant council seat in Scarborough recently occupied by new provincial MPP Raymond Cho), for provincial office and for dark-horse candidate for leader of the federal Conservative party. The timing in the news cycle, and his own recent hints about a decision, is such that an announcement of a bid for any of those offices might seem natural.
And yet it was none of those things. Instead, he was hawking a book.
Ford Nation: Two Brothers, One Vision — The True Story of the People’s Mayor by Rob and Doug Ford, Doug told the assembled press it would be released on Nov. 22. It was a book, he said, that had been in the works since before Rob died, one that would tell the story of the family, his brother’s troubles and — of course! — their enemies, in the words of both political Ford broth- ers themselves. Flanked by his mother, Diane, his nephew, Councillor Michael Ford and Rob’s widow, Renata, he promised — using the famous Ford flair for hyperbole — that the book would “rock” worlds political and journalistic.
You see, he’s aware he’s a wolf, and he has to show his fangs: “No one’s going to be left untouched,” he said. “Look forward to seeing your names in one of these books,” he told the reporters in attendance.
He said he would “name names” to expose both the “lying Toronto Star” and the other media who did him wrong, and also the other politicians who struggle with addiction problems similar to Rob’s but who pointed fingers during the crack scandal.
“The Fords can’t be judgmental,” he said, because they have suffered “every issue” you might catalogue in the list of human failings.
“But some of these people don’t throw stones, they throw boulders in a glass house.”
In addition to settling political scores, Ford said this book would benefit charity: all proceeds would go to a variety of charities, including cancer charities. But of course, it will also be a platform on which Ford will continue to cry wolf as an all-purpose political threat.
He would embark on a national publicity tour this fall, he said, after which he will declare his political intentions.
“As sure as I’m standing here, I’ll be running,” he said, refusing to narrow down the options. Mayor of Toronto? Growl: “I don’t know if it’s going to be holding the mayor accountable.” Member of provincial parliament? Snarl: “Or the premier who runs up over a $300-billion deficit.” Prime minister? Howl: “If you’re putting me up against Justin Tru- deau, a camp counsellor and parttime drama teacher, I think that answers everything.”
Everything and nothing. Awoooooooo!
The announcement by the Ford political machine was to gain publicity for a vehicle to generate more publicity for the Ford political machine, to be channelled into a specific endeavour to be named later.
The deadline to enter the federal Conservative leadership race is not until February 2017.
The deadlines to declare for provincial and municipal races are considerably later than that. Lots of howling still to come.
The question is, if the townspeople stop jumping and the sheep stop running every time he opens his mouth, will his fangs still be as sharp? Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca. Follow: @thekeenanwire