Late last week came the tragic news that Rob Ford would be dropping out of Toronto’s mayoral race. For anyone who’s read even the headlines over the past year, this will come as no surprise: Ford has spent a chunk of 2014 in rehab for substance and alcohol addictions. Last November, the city council also stripped him of duties, and he’s now known as a “Mayor In Name Only”.
Incredibly, though, these issues don’t seem to have played a role in Ford’s decision. Instead, he’s cited health problems (an abdominal tumour) and, barely a month before the 27 October election, his brother, Doug Ford, has entered the race instead.
So, in tribute to Rob Ford’s four year tenure, we’ve put together a list of some of his most memorable moments, both as mayor and from his previous role as a city councillor.
1. He admitted to smoking crack cocaine.
Yeah, okay, we all know about this one (booooooooooooring). But Ford is the only mayor on the record books who’s actually admitted to smoking crack while doing the job, so we felt the story worth retelling.
In May 2013, Gawker ran a piece accusing Ford of smoking crack cocaine in his local area, claiming they’ve seen a video. Shortly after, the Toronto Star published a story claiming their reporters have also seen the footage.
After months of angrily denying that he’d ever smoked crack cocaine, Ford finally admitted in November that he “tried it” in a “drunken stupor”. The video was never released, despite Ford claiming, a little improbably, “I want everyone in the city to see this tape. I don’t even recall there being a tape or video. I want to see the state that I was in.”
2. He pushed over a council member.
During a heated council debate in November 2013, Ford rushed across the chamber and grabbed council member Pam McConnell, apparently trying to push her to the floor. Some argue that he was trying to reach his brother Doug, and that McConnell was simply “in the way”.
Afterwards, Ford helped McConnell up and walked away. What a gentleman.
3. He really respects “Orientals”.
At another debate, this time about Christmas shopping, Ford made clear his admiration for the residents of Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo, all of which he has visited: “Those Oriental people work like dogs. They work their hearts out… They sleep beside their machines… I’m telling you, the Oriental people, they’re slowly taking over.”
4. He spoke out against AIDS-prevention programmes.
In 2006, while serving as a city councillor, Ford attacked a $1.5m city fund for AIDS prevention, on the grounds that “if you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn’t get AIDS probably, that’s the bottom line.” Bravo. He just said what everyone was thinking, right?
5. He got fired from his school football coach position. Twice.
Ford began his high school coaching career with a stint at Newtonbrook Secondary School in 2001, where he was dismissed within the year after a confrontation with one of the players. Details are hazy, but Chris Spence, director of education at the Toronto School Board, confirmed that “something did happen” and Ford was dismissed.
Ford then moved on to Don Bosco Catholic School, where he coached alongside his local government duties for ten years. He was dismissed in 2013, apparently for comments he made about the school in an interview. However according to documents released by Don Bosco to the Star under the Freedom of Information Act, there were other problems, some of which tended towards the, er, scatological.
“Mayor Rob Ford made his high school football players ‘roll in goose sca’, threatened to beat up a teacher, showed up intoxicated to the final practice before the Metro Bowl, ignored requests to complete criminal background checks, stuck the school with a $5,000 tab for helmets he promised to pay for, and held an improper summer practice at which a player broke his collarbone.”
It’s like the plot of Friday Night Lights 2, isn’t it.
6. He’s a great multitasker.
In 2012, a resident posted a picture on Twitter showing Ford reading while driving on the Gardiner Expressway. In later tweets, he claimed Ford was driving at around 70mph at the time.
Image: @RyanGHaughton via Twitter.
When challenged, Ford said he was “probably” reading on the expressway because “I’m a busy man”.
7. He hates cyclists.
In 2010, while still a council member, Ford argued that if a cyclist gets hit then, well, they were asking for it:
“What I compare bike lanes to is swimming with the sharks. Sooner or later you’re going to get bitten. My heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.”
Once he became mayor, Ford set about tackling the issue of cyclist safety by removing bike lanes.
8. He’s not a fan of the homeless, either.
In a speech, Ford said he would not hold a public meeting about setting up homeless shelters in each ward, because any such meeting would be an “insult to my constituents”. “Why don’t we have a public lynching?” he concluded. Why indeed?
In July of this year, he was also the only council member to vote against a motion to allocate 25 per cent of beds in a youth shelter to LGBTQ homeless people.
9. He loves fridge magnets.
There are numerous reports of Ford skipping out on boring council meetings in favour of flitting around the parking lot, slapping “Rob Ford: Mayor” fridge magnets on cars. The Star reported on one such occasion:
“When a reporter told Ford that some people might find his behaviour strange, he retorted that some people find the reporter strange… The mayor slowed down only twice – once to calmly address the reporters who followed him, once to shout urgently to aide David Price for more magnets, his arms outsretched.”
His staffers also handed the magnets out at the funeral of Peter Worthington, founding editor of the Toronto Sun newspaper.
One of Rob’s magnets. If you’re interested, they occasionally pop up on auction websites.
10. He didn’t attend Toronto Pride once during his four years in office.
Every year, Ford has bowed out of attendance, claiming that it’s a Ford family tradition to spend that weekend at their cottage. In 2014, however, he confirmed that he would never attend: “I’ve never been to a Pride parade. I can’t change who I am.”
Doug Ford came to Rob’s defence, saying that he, too, would rather not see “buck naked men running down the street”.
However, a Rob Ford impersonator did attend this year’s parade, and appears to have had a wonderful time.
Image: Getty.
Ford is actually still standing as a councillor in his native Etobicoke (a Toronto suburb), and, amazingly, is polling at 59 per cent from his hospital bed. Looks like his dazzling political career may not be over yet.
