Rob Ford is going to Chicago to meet Rahm Emanuel and watch a Cubs game

Rob Ford isn’t fond of business trips—he thinks they cost too much—but he will be heading south next month to meet former White House chief of staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (for those wondering, Ford will be travelling on his own dime). The mayor will be in Chicago on a trade mission with McDonald’s Canada founder George Cohon, Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce and several dozen other business people hoping to boost their ties to the city (they’ll also check out a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, natch). Rob’s brother Doug, who is helping to organize the trip, said the mayor will sit down for an hour with Emanuel to soak in some wisdom, and to sign a symbolic co-operative agreement. Doug also suggested there would be some one-upmanship between the two equally colourful mayors, saying, “It’ll be putting two lions in the cage. Rob’s a little bigger.” [Globe and Mail]

(Images: Rahm Emanuel, Daniel X. O’Neil; Rob Ford, Christopher Drost)