One-time mayoral candidate George Smitherman is getting into the medical-marijuana biz

What does life after losing an election to Rob Ford look like? For George Smitherman, the second-place finisher in 2010’s mayoral election, it evidently looks like a bucolic farm, and a never-ending supply of medical-grade weed. CTV reports that the ex-Ontario health minister is working with former deputy police chief Kim Derry and a Markham pharmacist to start a licensed grow-op in Uxbridge. He’s one of hundreds of applicants under a new federal program designed to take pot cultivation out of the hands of medical-marijuana patients and make it the purview of a new group of licensed commercial growers. The program is proceeding, despite a court injunction issued against it late last month.

The other 2010 mayoral candidates are also getting on with their lives, albeit in less headline-grabbing ways. Rocco Rossi lost a bid for a seat at Queen’s Park and is now CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada, Joe Pantalone is a lobbyist and Sarah Thomson, having also lost a Queen’s Park bid, has morphed into a kind of professional weirdo.