POLL: Is Rob Ford being a robo-call bully?

Speeches, radio shows and fridge magnets are no longer enough for Rob Ford, who on Friday found a new way to broadcast his message: the heretofore demonized robo-call. After councillor Paul Ainslie slammed Ford’s cherished Scarborough subway extension at last week’s council meeting, the mayor—via telephone robot—called residents in Ainslie’s Scarborough ward. “It was extremely, extremely unfortunate that your councillor, Paul Ainslie, was the only Scarborough councillor who did not listen to his constituents and voted against the Scarborough subway,” says Ford during the minute-long message. Ainslie called the tactic “political thuggery” and plans to file a complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner. The Toronto Sun’s Mike Strobel called Ainslie “Councillor Cream Puff” and says that he “wimped out.” Ford, meanwhile, remains unrepentant: “That’s my job—to tell taxpayers how their money is being spent. I don’t know what [Ainslie] is so upset about.”

Do you agree with the mayor?