Reaction roundup: what the world is saying about Rob Ford’s win

Reaction roundup: what the world is saying about Rob Ford’s win

Toronto’s mayoral election has made the news not just in Toronto and Canada, but around the world (we made the big time, or at least the Financial Times, but more on that later). So what is everyone saying? Going from local to global, here’s our roundup of what Ford’s victory means to observers.

• At the National Post, Tasha Kheirridin calls Rob Ford the real candidate of inclusion, Chris Selley says voter anger is the flavour of the month, and Kelly McParland has a backhanded compliment for Ford voters, who apparently like simple messaging and repetition.

• The Toronto Star got in early last night with a piece about how George Smitherman’s campaign lost its way early and never got its “groove back,” and Royson James basically says the next four years will be filled with madness.

• Speculation about what Ford’s victory means for other levels of government has already begun. The Globe and Mail’s Jane Taber argues that it ushers in a new era of politics in which anti-elitism reigns supreme (advantage: Baird?). Provincially, the Ottawa Citizen reports that Dalton McGuinty is basically refusing to say whether he’s worried or not. Or, as the Globe’s Karen Howlett put it, “he turned up the bland” when asked.

• Further afield, the Financial Times compares Ford to the Tea Party, as everyone who writes about Toronto for a global audience seems to do at least once. Bloomberg mostly gives straight reportage, but where else can you learn about Toronto’s credit rating from S&P?

Choire Sicha at New York’s smart-snark blog The Awl offers his sarcastic take on the Ford victory: “This will actually be a great experiment! Maybe he can privatize garbage collection and cut the city’s debt by $1.58 billion over four years and also spend $4 billion on new subway lines and hire more police while saving taxpayers money!”

• Rob Ford’s victory even made the news in his old stomping ground of Miami, Florida—though maybe not for reasons the mayor-elect would like.

• Twitter, predictably, went nutty last night. One of the most re-tweeted was @johnpapa’s “Can we PLEASE refer to Rob Ford as ‘Mayor Double Down’?” which even started its own topic. A bit wittier was @JasonJHughes’ “Rob Ford is the Nickelback of Mayors. All the votes, yet no one admits to voting for him.” The pro-Ford forces got some good ones in, too: “You know what’s incredibly fat about Rob Ford? His margin of victory.” Zing!

• Tasha Kheiriddin: Rob Ford, the real candidate of inclusiveness [National Post]
• Chris Selley: City has spoken, and it is angry [National Post]
Kelly McParland: Ford leads suburban barbarians to Toronto’s gate [National Post]
• A campaign that quickly lost its way [Toronto Star]
• What happens now? Four turbulent years [Toronto Star]
• What Rob Ford’s victory means for Stephen Harper [Globe and Mail]
• McGuinty mum on anti-incumbent municipal election results [Ottawa Citizen]
• Ontario minister accuses mayor-elect Rob Ford of bigotry [Globe and Mail]
Toronto elects right-wing populist as mayor [Financial Times]
• Ford Elected Mayor of Toronto, Defeating Former Deputy Premier Smitherman [Bloomberg]
Toronto to Become Privatized Miracle City of the Tax-Free Future [The Awl]
Rob Ford, Toronto’s Newly Elected Mayor, Was Arrested for DUI and Pot Charges in Miami [Miami Herald]