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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Back to Me

Back to Me

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This shot of Rob Ford bloviating while the Toronto City Council turns its back on him has to be one of the oddest political photos ever taken. Unfortunately for the council members, it sounds like there’s no impeachment clause in their charter, so they are left to pass sketchy resolutions in an attempt to put Ford in the corner:

On Friday, council voted 41-2 to take away Ford’s power to make decisions without council’s consent during emergencies and 39-3 to prevent him from firing councillors as committee chairs.

An even harsher motion slated for Monday’s council meeting aims to transfer to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly “all powers and duties which are not by statute assigned to the mayor” and to transfer the mayor’s office budget to the deputy mayor.

Nobody puts Rob in a corner, so Ford has hired George Rust-D’Eye, one of Ontario’s leading experts in municipal law, to fend off this attempt to strip him of his power.

Update: Forgot to mention the latest: Ford probably beats his wife.

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  5. 5.

    dpm (dread pirate mistermix)

    @NobodySpecial: The two no votes are him and his brother Doug.

    @JPL: It was a game day for the Argonauts – he’s a huge football fan and that’s this personal jersey. On the back it says “Mayor Ford”.

    BTW, the Argos are upset with him because he made the “I have all the pussy I can eat at home” comments while wearing it.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    This is some crazy shit they have going on in Toronto. It sounds like the city council, taken a very questionable approach to reining in an out-of-control mayor, by voting to nullify as much as it can of his official authority. I mean, who sets up a city council with that kind of power? That would mean an elected mayor serves at the city council’s pleasure, rather than at the people’s. I sympathise with their problem. I’d want hm out too. But I don’t see this as a workable solution.

  7. 7.

    Mike E

    Here in Mayberry, city mgrs hold the reins and get six-figure salaries while mayors are relegated to ceremonial roles, like cheerleading businesses on, and herding cats trying to guide their councils (who usually make less than $25K).

    NC is discovering mayors can make awful governors, also. Too.

  8. 8.

    Ash Can

    Has Ford managed to convince enough of the people who voted for him in the first place that they fucked up? Or is the new, expanded version of Toronto still in danger of electing some other drug kingpin/mobster/extortionist after this guy?

  11. 11.

    Felonius Monk

    I guess we don’t have enough idiot politicians in the U.S. to make fun of, so we have to import them from our northern neighbor. However, it does prove that the U.S. does not have a monopoly on political lunatics.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    @Mike E:

    NC is discovering mayors can make awful governors, also. Too.

    I was recently appalled to find out that the McCrory syndicate hired accused war criminal and failed congressional candidate Ilario Pantano to work in the NC Dept. of Veterans Affairs, with a fat $90K salary to do basically nothing. But he was a Tea Party darling and must have been tight with Art Pope, so a patronage job was pretty much guaranteed.

  14. 14.

    Jay C

    OK: any Torontostanis around who can explain what those odd screen are – presumably in front of the City Councilmembers’ seats? They look like something you’d see in a brokerage’s trading-room – do they have Web access so that they can post LOLs about Mayor Buffoon while waiting for him to sit down??

  16. 16.

    the Conster

    That photo is so odd – one of these things is not like the other. It’s like a photoshop that makes no sense without context, and with context it’s even odder. If you looked up shit show fail parade in the dictionary it would be this whole Rob Ford saga. WTF Toronto.

  18. 18.

    TaMara (BHF)

    Well I suppose a crack-head mayor is a good enough thread for this, it’s hysterical and someone pass it on to John Cole if I don’t get back later to show him:

    One of the darkest TV dramas ever made, AMC’s Breaking Bad, looked to two comedies, Malcolm In The Middle and Newhart, for inspiration to craft an alternative ending, which surfaced today online ahead of the series’ DVD release. In the scene, which draws parallels to the classic ending of Newhart where Bob Newhart wakes up next to the wife from his previous series to reveal that everything on Newhart was just a dream, Cranston as goofy Malcolm in the Middle dad Hal wakes up next to his sitcom wife, Jane Kaczmarek as Lois, revealing that the entire Walter White story depicted on Breaking Bad was just Hal’s nightmare. Or was it? Watch till the end to find out.

    Breaking Bad Alternate Ending (filmed by the cast)

  19. 19.

    GregB

    More proof that white men are the new oppressed class.

    Leave Rob Ford alone.

    Seriously, I think he needs to be involuntarily committed.

  21. 21.

    shelly

    “I have all the pussy I can eat at home” comments

    Has anybody asked Mrs. Ford how she feels about that comment?

  23. 23.

    Aji

    @TaMara (BHF): Or, let me guess: As Walter White fades into his death-throes delirium, he hallucinates an entire life as a healthy guy with a white-picket-fence family instead of his . . . well, his own.

    ETA: Also, too, White’s version of going to heaven. Or maybe to hell.

  24. 24.

    ruemara

    @Jay C: Probably view screens to watch the meetings, powerpoints and media presentations during meetings. Fairly common.

    Are we sure Rob Ford isn’t an American Import from like, Florida? Because he sure acts like it.

  26. 26.

    Mike E

    @Mike in NC: Yeah, tell me about it…our idiosyncratic voters are not amused, and may surprise a bunch of folks next year

    I worked a cheerleaders confab yesterday and chatted with an elderly p/t security guard who bemoaned how girls are subjected to more and more pressures and I pointed out parents have fewer resources these days. He then talked about government being the problem and, you guessed it, he’s active with a local TEA party. After gently pointing out how his political math didn’t add up to solving anything (“Soros!” he shot back), I could only express my 100% disagreement and move on to better activities.

    Still miles to go until ’14 tho, and hopefully lots more opportunities for these clowns to keep stepping in it…

  28. 28.

    Redshirt

    Totally thought that was a photoshop.

    As a non-resident of Toronto, I love Rob Ford! What great fun. And shame. And prurient, car crash interest.

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    This is the weirdest political story in a very long time. I have a colleague from Toronto, and he is all embarrassed. However, it does disprove the “all Canadians are nice” stereotype quite successfully.

  31. 31.

    gene108

    @Mike E:

    He then talked about government being the problem

    “Government is the problem” is a religious belief now among many. There maybe a way to thread the needle to get them to vote out Republicans, but rational arguments are not it, though I’m not sure what is.

  33. 33.

    Goblue72

    Ford’s voters are right wing populists – you know, Canadian tea party types. They run on pure emotion and are immune to facts and logic. That’s why his base support is still there.

  35. 35.

    Comrade Mary

    3) Toronto has a weak mayor system. The mayor has only one vote on council and a small set of extra powers given to them by statute. Additional powers can be granted to the mayor by council. What the current council is moving to do is:

    a) Taking back previously granted powers
    b) Using their powers to shuffle budgeting, etc. This Torontoist live-blog of Friday’s vote gives you some excellent background on what is covered by statute.

    Special added bonus: Dear American Media: Who You Should Talk To About Rob Ford …and who you should definitely, entirely avoid.

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    The real surprise about that photo is that the Toronto City Council has Keno at every desk.

  40. 40.

    NonyNony

    @Comrade Mary:

    Special added bonus: Dear American Media: Who You Should Talk To About Rob Ford …and who you should definitely, entirely avoid.

    I hovered over that link and thought “hmm … the Torontoist website. I bet that’s a Christopher Bird story.” And sure enough, it was.

  41. 41.

    DJ

    Yes we have our juvenile, immature, loudmouth, arrogant, blowhard, hubristic (is that a word?) wingnuts too. Thank you very much for showing them the way.

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