Rob Ford isn’t invited to this year’s Garrison Ball

The 2013 Garrison Ball was, in a sense, the start of Rob Ford’s real troubles, because it was the source of the first detailed news reports about his substance-abuse issues. The story of the mayor’s bad behaviour broke wide open in the Star after councillor Paul Ainslie came forward to say that he’d been forced to ask an intoxicated Ford to leave the glitzy event, an annual military benefit.

Now the story has a coda: according to the Star, Ford isn’t invited to this year’s Garrison Ball—though John Wright, one of the organizers, says it’s not because of his previous behaviour, or because of his crack scandal. (It’s worth noting, though, that Wright was one of several Garrison Ball organizers who tried to cover the mayor’s tracks by issuing an open letter denying that anyone had asked Ford to leave last year’s event.)

Whatever the case, deputy mayor Norm Kelly will be attending the 2014 ball in Ford’s place.