Cisco’s $100-million investment in Toronto is all Rob Ford’s doing, says Rob Ford
Regular guy and budding Los Angeles socialite Rob Ford appeared at city hall on Wednesday afternoon to make his weekly complaint to the media. The difference this time: his complaint wasn’t about the media, rather it was about a major technology firm’s decision to invest $100 million in Toronto over the course of the next decade.
Why would Rob Ford—the self-professed relentless advocate for business—be quibbling with Cisco Systems’ announcement that it will be locating one of its four new global innovation hubs in Toronto’s South Core? Because nobody bothered to thank him, of course.
“I’m the one that made the environment for these businesses to come here. My administration’s done it,” the mayor told reporters. “We have 150 cranes in the sky. We have the lowest tax rate, that was all my hard work.” Ford was responding to news that deputy mayor Norm Kelly, who has been the functional head of Toronto’s municipal government since Ford was stripped of most of his powers in November, had been invited to Cisco’s announcement on Wednesday in the mayor’s stead.
Leaving aside the fact that nobody actually knows how many cranes there really are in Toronto’s skies, and that the building boom predates Ford’s election, and that Toronto’s tax rate isn’t actually “the lowest,” it seems odd that the mayor would take the credit for luring all new jobs to Toronto. No politician is capable of single-handedly steering the economy. They can sometimes be responsible for negotiating job-creation deals with individual companies, but, according to the Globe, Cisco didn’t deal with the mayor; it dealt with deputy mayor Kelly and councillor Michael Thompson, who chairs the city’s economic development committee.
In any case, the Cisco announcement seems like good news for the rest of the city. The new facility will be dedicated to “internet of everything” research, and will be located in Cisco’s new Canadian headquarters, in the yet-to-be-completed RBC WaterPark Place on the downtown waterfront. Songdo, South Korea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and an undisclosed city in Germany will be reportedly be getting similar facilities. Their mayors will presumably be invited to the press conferences.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/ciscos-100-million-investment-toronto-rob-ford/&title=Cisco’s $100-million investment in Toronto is all Rob Ford’s doing, says Rob Ford&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/rob-ford-versus-cisco-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_263777" align="alignnone" width="656"] (Image: Ford: Christopher Drost)[/caption]
Regular guy and budding Los Angeles socialite Rob Ford appeared at city hall on Wednesday afternoon to make his weekly complaint to the media. The difference this time: his complaint wasn't about the media, rather it was about a major technology firm's decision to invest $100 million in Toronto over the course of the next decade.
Why would Rob Ford—the self-professed relentless advocate for business—be quibbling with Cisco Systems’ announcement that it will be locating one of its four new global innovation hubs in Toronto's South Core? Because nobody bothered to thank him, of course.
"I’m the one that made the environment for these businesses to come here. My administration’s done it," the mayor told reporters. "We have 150 cranes in the sky. We have the lowest tax rate, that was all my hard work." Ford was responding to news that deputy mayor Norm Kelly, who has been the functional head of Toronto's municipal government since Ford was stripped of most of his powers in November, had been invited to Cisco's announcement on Wednesday in the mayor's stead.
Leaving aside the fact that nobody actually knows how many cranes there really are in Toronto's skies, and that the building boom predates Ford's election, and that Toronto's tax rate isn't actually "the lowest," it seems odd that the mayor would take the credit for luring all new jobs to Toronto. No politician is capable of single-handedly steering the economy. They can sometimes be responsible for negotiating job-creation deals with individual companies, but, according to the Globe, Cisco didn't deal with the mayor; it dealt with deputy mayor Kelly and councillor Michael Thompson, who chairs the city's economic development committee.
In any case, the Cisco announcement seems like good news for the rest of the city. The new facility will be dedicated to "internet of everything" research, and will be located in Cisco's new Canadian headquarters, in the yet-to-be-completed RBC WaterPark Place on the downtown waterfront. Songdo, South Korea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and an undisclosed city in Germany will be reportedly be getting similar facilities. Their mayors will presumably be invited to the press conferences.){kind=link}
Ford lie!?! Say it ain’t so! ;)
Well everyone especially the Star claimed that Ford’s antics cost the city so much in money and that BUSINESS WOULD NOT COME TO TORONTO … looks like that theory is wrong … and based on no facts .. so why can’t ford play the same game ?
I didn’t claim this, so not everyone did.
Ford Nation: A nation of liars.
Citation needed. Not that you could find one. Just pointing out that you are full of it.
so two wrongs make a right? I thought Ford was better than that. I guess he’s not, based on this particular thing and not on anything else.
Ford’s real disappointment is that Cisco won’t be providing minimum wage jobs. That sets a bad example for others who might want to open new donut shops.
Cisco arrives while Ford’s in office. He has to bring this up (or, complain, as written) since he wasn’t invited to the announcement, in order to beef up his resume for the campaign trail. Simple politics. Don’t be shocked. Why is this an article?
Toronto hipster media need to stop reaching for weak stories and stop writing shitty slam pieces, it’s counterproductive to their cause.
if it were Crisco, then yeah, i’d believe Ford was involved.
“No politician is capable of single-handedly steering the economy” yet all I hear is how Ford is single handedly destroying our economy. Which one is it?
Well, no engineer can single-handedly build a car, but a crack-smoking drunk can destroy one single-handedly. Why should an economy be any different?
lol…
I don’t think anyone’s main argument about Ford is that he is single handedly destroying our economy. I challenge you to find that quote, or even a paraphrase of it, as a consistent argument in the mainstream media. There are so many other valid reasons to dislike him as a politician that have nothing to do with the economy.
it’s actually very productive to the cause of demanding transparency from our politicians to fact-check the Mayor’s obviously lie-ridden whining.
thats never been the star’s argument
or, for that matter, a mainstream argument against Ford in any publication.
deserved sarcasm aside, MOST people never claimed this…so many straw-men thrown up by Ford Nation, you’d think everyday was halloween
ford is a cancer, plain and simple, & no one wants to be involved with him anymore – political, business, social etc etc.
his hypocritical claims of others acts as ‘political’ & therefore wrong, when all he does/says is political – a joke as leader. punt his lying, corrupt butt out of here