Jan Wong: the appeal of racist Rob
Rob Ford’s habit of hurling N-bombs—and every other racist invective—hasn’t cost him the minority vote. It might even explain his lingering popularity
It’s hard to find an ethnic group Mayor Rob Ford hasn’t denigrated. Let’s recap. So far, the slurs have included, but are not limited to, “fucking kike,” “nigger,” “fucking wop,” “dago,” “Paki,” “Gino-boy,” and, my personal favourite, “Oriental people.” He apes the accents of “fucking minorities” (his term), most famously Jamaican patois. His wife, Renata, is a “Polack.” Oh, wait—that was the word Rob’s brother, councillor (and now fill-in mayoral candidate) Doug Ford, used to describe his sister-in-law.
More on Rob Ford
Why do minorities in Toronto support our racist mayor? In the last election, 80 per cent of Ford support came from the inner suburbs, areas that have the highest concentration in the city of visible minorities. Ford’s staunchest support comes from Ward 2, Etobicoke North—the Ford family stronghold—where he’s now running to resume his pre-2010 role as councillor. The area includes Rexdale, a Somali neighbourhood.
Can Toronto’s vaunted multicultural harmony be only skin deep? We are known around the world for mixing and matching our ethnic cuisines, our music and our marriages. Perhaps Rob Ford’s racism is some kind of backlash against blending. Is he popular because he is regarded as a refreshing, politically incorrect tell-it-like-it-is voice? As an Asian in this city, I sometimes hear disparaging comments made against, say, Jews or blacks, uttered in the placid assumption that I must share the same racist attitudes. Maybe he resonates with minorities who are themselves racist and tolerate being dumped on as long as other minorities get trashed too.
Andray Domise, a political newcomer who is running for city council in Etobicoke North against Ford, confronted the mayor at the annual Canada Day Ribfest down at Centennial Park this past summer. Domise asked the mayor to explain his use of the epithet “niggers.” Ford shrugged and answered: “It’s complicated.” Then walked away.
Domise, the 33-year-old son of Jamaican immigrants, says he felt sick when a crowd of young black Ford supporters cracked jokes and cheered for the mayor. He later blogged: “I watched the faces of these young people light up. I watched their sheer glee at being in the presence of the man who had made their reputations more tarnished, their futures more unstable and their lives more dangerous… [Ford has] co-opted our culture, put money from his own pocket into the hands of drug dealers, called your sons ‘thugs,’ called the rest of us ‘niggers.’”
A few days later, Domise met me for lunch. He is 6 foot 3, clean cut and GQ-model handsome. He arrived nattily dressed and wearing brogues. He’s idealistic, with experience volunteering for the Liberals. He was born in Rexdale and raised there by his mom; Domise does not have a relationship with his biological father. He put himself through the University of Windsor, working during the day at Best Buy and at night as a club bouncer, and got his degree in political science. The day before our lunch, he quit his downtown job as a financial consultant with Sun Life to devote himself to the council race.
Domise knows a lot of Ford fans. His own grandmother, who turns 70 this year, was, until recently, a fervent supporter. He says there are three reasons why Ford appeals to so many blacks in Toronto.
The first reason is that he showily takes care of his individual constituents. Ford is a master of retail politicking, and Domise has seen this in action. “He takes the time to come to community events, show up at our homes, and be nice and courteous.” One black youth at Ribfest told Domise that he supports Ford “because he fights for the people.” In other words, the mayor is perceived as being the go-to guy for help. In a drunken stupor, in March, Ford summed up the contradiction of his leadership perfectly: “I’m the mayor of Toronto. Nobody sticks up for people like I do, whatever the race. I’m the most racist guy around.”
The second and more complicated reason has something to do with empathy: Domise says his grandmother, like many Toronto blacks, views the mayor as a kindred soul, an underdog who has triumphed over the elites. He’s drug-addled, overweight and uneducated—yet he’s the mayor. In this against-all-odds success story, Ford is the anti-hero. He says things that the disenfranchised wish they could say. “A lot of us see ourselves in Rob Ford,” says Domise. “He’s vilified, chased after by the media for his drug habits, attacked for his personal life.”
To explain the third reason, Domise evokes the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. African-Canadians see the mayor as a political Robin Hood, an “upraised middle finger” to the entrenched downtown power structure. Ford positions himself against the (largely white) Toronto establishment, even while dropping N-bombs. He hired Eugene Jones, an African-American from Detroit, at $250,000 a year to run Toronto Community Housing, and when Jones was forced out last spring, following an ombudsman’s report citing mismanagement, the mayor played the race card. A furious Ford warned that subsidized housing projects might explode in violence to protest the firing of a black man. Domise’s translation: “You got to let me control these kids—I’m protecting the black community’s [interests] and simultaneously protecting the white community from the blacks.”
Domise decided to run in the Ford stronghold because, as he puts it, he believed someone needed to step up to challenge Ford’s behaviour. To bring his grandmother around, Domise spent an hour spelling out Rob Ford’s voting record—opposing community funding and badmouthing neighbourhood outreach as “hug-a-thug” programs while hugging actual thugs. But he isn’t sure how he’s going to convert enough voters to win. “I can’t have an in-depth conversation with every individual,” he says wearily.
Meanwhile, Rob Ford, now fluent in rehab-speak, insists his racist remarks were his “chronicle illness” talking. In the mayor’s first post-rehab interview, Dwight Drummond, a black anchor at CBC News Toronto, pressed him gently: “If those things aren’t in your heart, why are they coming out of your mouth with such frequency?” Ford replied, “When you have this disease…you say things that aren’t you.” But that’s nonsense: alcohol and drugs aren’t aliens who hijack your brain. They lessen inhibitions and eliminate social filters that restrain you from blurting out your innermost thoughts, unleashing the true you.
Ford’s two months in rehab showed us that the city—and city council—can dysfunction just fine without him. For me, it’s not complicated: Ford is a dangerous anachronism, the worst person to be our city’s mayor.
, most famously Jamaican patois. His wife, Renata, is a “Polack.” Oh, wait—that was the word Rob’s brother, councillor (and now fill-in mayoral candidate) Doug Ford, used to describe his sister-in-law.
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Why do minorities in Toronto support our racist mayor? In the last election, 80 per cent of Ford support came from the inner suburbs, areas that have the highest concentration in the city of visible minorities. Ford’s staunchest support comes from Ward 2, Etobicoke North—the Ford family stronghold—where he's now running to resume his pre-2010 role as councillor. The area includes Rexdale, a Somali neighbourhood.
Can Toronto’s vaunted multicultural harmony be only skin deep? We are known around the world for mixing and matching our ethnic cuisines, our music and our marriages. Perhaps Rob Ford’s racism is some kind of backlash against blending. Is he popular because he is regarded as a refreshing, politically incorrect tell-it-like-it-is voice? As an Asian in this city, I sometimes hear disparaging comments made against, say, Jews or blacks, uttered in the placid assumption that I must share the same racist attitudes. Maybe he resonates with minorities who are themselves racist and tolerate being dumped on as long as other minorities get trashed too.
[caption id="attachment_375139" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Andray Domise (Image: Claire Foster)[/caption]
Andray Domise, a political newcomer who is running for city council in Etobicoke North against Ford, confronted the mayor at the annual Canada Day Ribfest down at Centennial Park this past summer. Domise asked the mayor to explain his use of the epithet “niggers.” Ford shrugged and answered: “It’s complicated.” Then walked away.
Domise, the 33-year-old son of Jamaican immigrants, says he felt sick when a crowd of young black Ford supporters cracked jokes and cheered for the mayor. He later blogged: “I watched the faces of these young people light up. I watched their sheer glee at being in the presence of the man who had made their reputations more tarnished, their futures more unstable and their lives more dangerous… [Ford has] co-opted our culture, put money from his own pocket into the hands of drug dealers, called your sons ‘thugs,’ called the rest of us ‘niggers.’"
A few days later, Domise met me for lunch. He is 6 foot 3, clean cut and GQ-model handsome. He arrived nattily dressed and wearing brogues. He’s idealistic, with experience volunteering for the Liberals. He was born in Rexdale and raised there by his mom; Domise does not have a relationship with his biological father. He put himself through the University of Windsor, working during the day at Best Buy and at night as a club bouncer, and got his degree in political science. The day before our lunch, he quit his downtown job as a financial consultant with Sun Life to devote himself to the council race.
Domise knows a lot of Ford fans. His own grandmother, who turns 70 this year, was, until recently, a fervent supporter. He says there are three reasons why Ford appeals to so many blacks in Toronto.
The first reason is that he showily takes care of his individual constituents. Ford is a master of retail politicking, and Domise has seen this in action. “He takes the time to come to community events, show up at our homes, and be nice and courteous.” One black youth at Ribfest told Domise that he supports Ford “because he fights for the people.” In other words, the mayor is perceived as being the go-to guy for help. In a drunken stupor, in March, Ford summed up the contradiction of his leadership perfectly: “I’m the mayor of Toronto. Nobody sticks up for people like I do, whatever the race. I’m the most racist guy around.”
The second and more complicated reason has something to do with empathy: Domise says his grandmother, like many Toronto blacks, views the mayor as a kindred soul, an underdog who has triumphed over the elites. He’s drug-addled, overweight and uneducated—yet he’s the mayor. In this against-all-odds success story, Ford is the anti-hero. He says things that the disenfranchised wish they could say. “A lot of us see ourselves in Rob Ford,” says Domise. “He’s vilified, chased after by the media for his drug habits, attacked for his personal life.”
To explain the third reason, Domise evokes the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. African-Canadians see the mayor as a political Robin Hood, an “upraised middle finger” to the entrenched downtown power structure. Ford positions himself against the (largely white) Toronto establishment, even while dropping N-bombs. He hired Eugene Jones, an African-American from Detroit, at $250,000 a year to run Toronto Community Housing, and when Jones was forced out last spring, following an ombudsman’s report citing mismanagement, the mayor played the race card. A furious Ford warned that subsidized housing projects might explode in violence to protest the firing of a black man. Domise's translation: “You got to let me control these kids—I’m protecting the black community’s [interests] and simultaneously protecting the white community from the blacks.”
Domise decided to run in the Ford stronghold because, as he puts it, he believed someone needed to step up to challenge Ford’s behaviour. To bring his grandmother around, Domise spent an hour spelling out Rob Ford’s voting record—opposing community funding and badmouthing neighbourhood outreach as “hug-a-thug” programs while hugging actual thugs. But he isn’t sure how he’s going to convert enough voters to win. “I can’t have an in-depth conversation with every individual,” he says wearily.
Meanwhile, Rob Ford, now fluent in rehab-speak, insists his racist remarks were his “chronicle illness” talking. In the mayor’s first post-rehab interview, Dwight Drummond, a black anchor at CBC News Toronto, pressed him gently: “If those things aren’t in your heart, why are they coming out of your mouth with such frequency?” Ford replied, “When you have this disease…you say things that aren’t you.” But that’s nonsense: alcohol and drugs aren’t aliens who hijack your brain. They lessen inhibitions and eliminate social filters that restrain you from blurting out your innermost thoughts, unleashing the true you.
Ford’s two months in rehab showed us that the city—and city council—can dysfunction just fine without him. For me, it’s not complicated: Ford is a dangerous anachronism, the worst person to be our city’s mayor.){kind=link}
I think that real people (meaning those other than uber sensitive, Ford-hating Toronto Life columnists and social media slactivists) realize that Ford was right. It is complicated. And rather than rushing to judgement based on your oh so refined sensitivity to words perhaps it’s better to judge Ford by his actions instead of his words (sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me). On that count, in spite of the fact that Ford has used untoward expressions, he has paid more attention and showed more concern to the various minority communities than most other leaders have. It’s little wonder they aren’t too fussed about his poor word choice. We could learn from them.
and another jug of Kool-Aid is on its way to you. Chug away.
Domise? The guy that showed up at the Ford home with flowers and sympathy and…..20 or 30 of his closest media friends and camera crews? Dumb stunt, it likely will be the Demise of Domise.
Pretty smug response. You fit in well with the second category of sheep listed in the first sentence.
Jan Wong, you are a terrific writer, who crystalized many threads lesser writers stumbled over. Congratulations
Alternately, Mr Rob Ford is a selfish, self-centred individual, who thinks he is entitled to be granted the respect and salary of holding a city council office when his disease precludes him carrying out that office’s responsibilities.
Was it legitimate for Rob Ford’s opponent to bring him flowers in hopes it might remind some voters Mr Ford’s disease means he can’t effectively represent them?
Mr Ford’s debilitation is the 800 pound Gorilla in the Ward 2 race.
Rob Ford has voted against every measure in council to extend help to those minority communities and then made media hay out of showing up and knocking on some doors.
How is that showing concern?
Hyperbole.
Good for him. Now Ford is milking his cancer. He will do anything to keep his publicly-paif job. Except be honest.
Carry on hating and the Ford Nation types just get stronger. Arrogant stunts aren’t going to sway them. And to be clear, I am not a Ford supporter, it is long past time for that circus to take down the tent and move on, but I do understand what drives his/their support.
A stunt he rapidly apologized for (and it was wrong to make a media event of it.)
http://www.andraydomise.ca/an_apology_from_andray_domise
Outside of threat of legal action or public embarrassment, I’m struggling to remember a time the Fords have owned up to their own numerous mistakes. And they certainly haven’t done so as honestly as above. This kind of apology takes serious cajones.
Domise at his worst is better than Ford at his best – Ward 2 really deserves better than the last 14 years of alienation.
Nice job avoiding the question. I’ll just assume that you stipulate to the facts as I’ve posted them and you have no answer.
I read his apology….and then made a donation.
I donated, read this apology, read your comment, and will probably make another donation. Or truck my ass out to volunteer, and experience first hand the hell of getting from downtown to Rexdale.
I am impressed. Everyone makes mistakes. Domise gave the most sincere, civilized and just plain human apology I’ve ever seen coming from a politician.
Ford has very effectively feigned concern for the minority communities. But his record is very thin when it comes actually doing anything substantial for them and not just paying them lip service. Especially in Ward 2. He hasn’t tried to improve transit. Hasn’t tried to improve local services. He completely failed at bringing development (Woodbine Live) despite claiming he had done it. Local arterial roads are in need of repair (Rexdale), never mind neighborhood streets. Step inside the Dixon Road towers and you’ll see what 14 years of neglect by the Fords has resulted in…and these are just top-of-mind examples.
It’s not complicated, it’s racist. try and justify racial slurs all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact racial slurs are racist, not complicated. Use your head.
Ford Nation, a group of losers who blindly follow a crackhead, alcoholic, racist, wife beater, poor little rich boy who likes to suck on the public teat.
I’ve told @ExcessOfConstraint a million times not to exaggerate. B^)
and yet he was STILL a better choice than anyone else who ran against him in the 2010 elections but sore losers like you just couldn’t accept the will of the people.
No, it is complicated. It’s actions that matter. I would suggest that there are relatively few people who have never used a racial slur. The mere fact that someone utters a word defined as a ‘racist slur’ does not mean that person is a racist, particularly when context is not considered. To be a racist means that one believes that a particular race is superior to another. There is no question that Ford has used ‘racist’ language. There is also no evidence that I’ve seen suggesting he believes one race is superior to another or that he has acted on any such belief.
So your dogmatic, superficial declarations don’t hold water.
rofo’s voting record says it’s fact. If you want hyperbole, you need look no farther than any rofo/dofo comment/speech.
You can’t be serious. Given the past four years, ANYONE would have been better. Frod is the worst mayor ever.
Yet he shows up for a pat on the back at every playground and other opening. Despite the fact thay they are opening in spite of him not because of him.
“It is complicated.”
How is a predilection for racism complicated?
“I would suggest that there are relatively few people who have never used a racial slur.”
Using them repeatedly, though?
This is an excellent summing up of the appeal of our bozo Mayor’s racist soul.
Ford Nation folks vote for him because they believe in instant gratification, nothing better than a new crisp 20 dollar bill in exchange for a vote.
Ford Will Do Anything To stay In Office
The Media Was Most Likely CAMPED Near ROB FORD’S House So HOW MUCH of Them Were Aleady There
You see the words before you yet refuse to comprehend. Sadly, not astonishing. You are a classic Ford supporter. If one brings up issue A, you respond with cherry picked factoids on issue B. When challenged with a detailed review of issue B, you skip on to another unrelated and likely only semi accurate point. As Domise pointed out, it’s impossible to have an in depth conversation with each of you, especially when you are so determinedly in denial about the complete Rob Ford. Toronto has enough problems without another, worse Ford dragging it down further.
Actually, you are completely wrong. I am not, nor have I ever been a Ford supporter. I’m just a rational person who doesn’t let hatred for another human being supersede logic or actual thinking. Take a deep breath, put your hatred aside for a moment, and look at the entire article and conversation we’re addressing here. You might just be bright enough to get it. At least I hope so.
If Fraud Nation can be placated with a fridge magnet and a donut, more power to the Liars they vote for – the city will recover from the Fords as fast as ROFO claims to have been cured of addiction.
No, “Zach”, it’s your denial. Rob Ford counts on that to get you to vote for him. Apparently it worked, and will probably work again when you vote for his utterly disinterested brother, who uses the same severely limited bag of tricks to appeal to the severely limited intellect of a certain segment of society (who in turn are two poorly-skilled to LOOK UP HIS PUBLIC TRACK RECORD and take him to task for actually working AGAINST them at every opportunity).
My lord, you are a condescending bore “Rex”. You also clearly have no idea who supported Ford. The people of ‘severely limited intellect’ you refer to that support him include doctors, lawyers, academics, captains of industry, and of course that ‘certain segment of society’ you refer to (code for immigrant and poor.) Try to get past being such an angry person. It affects your ability to think dispassionately and rationally. It’s also not good for your health. Disagree with ideas, don’t hate people. BTW – I never supported or voted for RoFo and have no plans to vote for DoFo.
Here’s a sad but very possible outcome. Rob Ford is elected back into city council. Shortly thereafter, he triumphs over his health issues and, emerging victorious, gathers the faithful against whoever beats his brother Doug for the mayor’s job. Four years on, railing against the incumbent who has the unenviable and near-impossible task of turning around the leaky boat that is the city of Toronto, Rob Ford runs for mayor again…and WINS.
Well, at least we can agree on one thing: neither of us voted or will vote for the Fords. But your responses throughout this thread (especially that ludicrous “hyperbole” crack to another responder) suggest that you think Ford actually delivered on everything he promised to those doctors, lawyers, academics and captains of industry you refer to (while conveniently minimizing JUST THE KINDS OF PEOPLE Wong is referring to in this article). The evidence is overwhelming, but the Ford’s are great at making it look like everyone else is lying instead of them, and creating “media vendettas” where none exist, or would exist if one of them wasn’t a fuckin’ CRACKHEAD!). You may not think this could actually happen, but sometimes, every once in a while, a candidate for office actually gets INTO that office by selling an image and a platform that he or she IN NO WAY upholds when they get there. THAT’s Rob Ford, my friend.
By the way, where do you get off telling me I “hate” these people, let alone calling it code for immigrant and poor? Accusing people of having low intellect is not the same as hating them for it. If anything, I pity them because they DON’T have the smarts to see how the Ford empire has been USING them in the worst possible way, worse than ANY other politicians this city has now or HAS had up to now. As long as the Ford’s keep drinking their own Kool-Aid, well then, that’s good enough for The Nation®. Furthermore, YOU took the implication that I was calling them immigrants and poor; I never gave it, nor do I believe it. Plenty of people in Ford’s demographic may indeed have immigrant backgrounds (parents, grandparents), yet they may very well have been born here. Some may live perfectly middle-class or even upper-class lives. But some don’t, and those are the ones the Fords prey on, even getting them to actually LIKE THEM for calling them the most derogatory names. Deny it all you want, but the evidence is in our faces every single day in this city, and every event the Fords selectively decide to attend. If you say you can’t see it, you’re lying. Period.
But I keep coming back to that inane “hyperbole” brush-off you gave the other guy. That’s just the kind of non-answer the Fords are so expert at puking up when they know there’s no excuse for their behaviour, or when they want to misdirect people away from the FACTS surrounding their voting history that are available to the public FOR FREE, regardless of what media they read or watch. As such, that answer is what makes YOU look like a Ford supporter, even though, apparently, you’re not.
Wow, another one!
You seriously think this fucking four-year CARNIVAL that has done nothing but hold this city back from progress is in any way preferable to ANY other candidate at least trying to do the job at face value while not slathering their reprehensible personal lives in our faces and then laughing about it? Like any other politician, Rob Ford sold voters a common-man image that proved to be almost entirely false, a facade behind which he could subsequently indulge the aberrant behaviours he’s known all his life with the seal of approval of the “folks” of this great city.
Despite your claims not to be a voter for or supporter of the Fords, you like so many others in Ford Nation seem to be too busy catching his crack-fueled farts to step back and take a good look at the idol himself. The “will of the people” (well, the hardly-a-majority that got the clown into office, anyway) ISN’T always rewarded in kind. It will be soooo nice to see these last pathetic vestiges of Ford Nation sycophants/trolls die off come October. No matter who replaces the Fords, and no matter their flaws, they will be infinitely preferable to four more years of this truly heartbreaking circus.
You need to get over your issues with my response using the word ‘hyperbole’. It was an absolutely accurate response. The definition of hyperbole is ‘language that describes something as better or worse than it really is’ – an exaggeration. The person I responded to used very absolute and exaggerated terms. Hyperbole. To quote: “Rob Ford has voted against every measure in council to extend help to those minority communities and then made media hay out of showing up and knocking on some doors.” I am quite sure that in four years, Ford did not vote against every single measure that helps minorities.
brilliant post.
zack, judging by your aversion to all thing facts and your seemingly mindless retorts to an excellent post i think you are the one with the issue.
Many of the words you deemed to be racist, are in fact not. Your personal favorite “racial” slur is “oriental people”, because thats the only slur that affects you. You had no intention of writing this article until your people were mentioned. So cut the crap and leave the poor man alone. He won’t win, nor will his brother, so on moral ground, I ask you to please stop.
Zach Swan you are very correct! Despite all of his faults I do not hate Ford and I am a minority. I think the race card is used far too easily and foolishly everywhere nowadays. I have lived in Toronto for a number of yrs and can see just how badly the problem with racism is here. Most of the racists I encounter are other ethnic pple who have clearly forgotten what kinda less than desirable Countries many of them have had to leave behind to live in other pple’s Countries, like Canada. The racism here is very subtle but there has been one public example discovered. That McGuinty employee who called an applicant ” ghetto” and he foolishly apologized for her instead of making her issue a public apology! Very stupid. The problems with Toronto continue with the massive numbers of pple who are being allowed to immigrate here. Very soon there will be more pple here than jobs and many of these pple are very unsuited to life anywhere other than their birthplaces!
I’ve read a number of your comments and replies. You make solid arguments, albeit based on deceptive logic. Since that is merely just another opinion, I will finish my comment by sticking to facts; Ford is a racist and you seem to not fully understand the term. Prejudice is closer to what you defined, ideas of superiority. Graduating up the chain is discrimination, personally acting on those ideas. Lastly, racism defines a systemic set of actions designed to repress and disadvantage. We must examine Ford in totality. The voting record, his contradictory embrace-while-slurring habits and condescending constituency visits often with press in tow; masterful illusions that they are! He may not be “book educated”, but the man has clever instincts. By virtue of using systemic practices, he is indeed a clever racist.
Or actually work.
The only people Rob is helping those communities are the crack dealers and gang bangers who are making a fortune delivering Rob his crack.
Were those the Jewish Lawyers and Doctors the Doug was talking about?
Rob has consistently worked against anything that will help minorities including more detox beds(he said those druggies belong in jail and not rehab, except when it’s him who needs the detox then they are a good thing) he tried to stop them having a shelter for the gay community etc etc
The people who voted for Rob had buyer’s remorse once they realized they elected a racist crack addicted alcoholic criminal. Speaking of sore losers I bet you Fraud Nayshunners won’t leave your parents basement for a month after election day. Doug has NO chance of becoming Mayor, get over it the circus is almost over.
When you say the things Rob has said those words alone mean that he believes one race is superior, otherwise he wouldn’t of said them over and over. Sorry but I have never talked like that, never have, never will. Why? Because I am not a racist like your hero McCrackpipes
No you are a Ford supporter we have had conversations before. If you were a rational person you would realize that the Fords have brought great shame to the city of Toronto and it’s citizens. Why should we put our hatred aside? Even if we did that wouldn’t make us want to vote for a Bozo named Doug.
Ah Yes a Ford supporter who doesn’t believe the things Rob said were racist, and of course doesn’t like having immigrants moving here either. A racist that thinks another person’s racist comments are no big deal. How surprising.
Rob win never be Mayor of this city ever again unless he pays someone to run in the election and when they win they appoint Rob as Mayor. Much like they are trying to do right now. But it won’t work. The Ford’s days in the Mayor’s office are numbered.
Crisp $20 dollar bills and free beer. That is what drives their support.
For your information, Biggs, I am an immigrant as well as a minority and I am guessing that you are not a minority or an immigrant but just another Canadian caught up in la-la land instead of seeing the real deal even though I gave an example of ethnic racism that was public knowledge and one that happened yrs ago. I will give another example cause whites for the most part have no concept of racism right under their noses. I entered a pizza pizza resto not that long ago and the south asians who owned it were their but completely ignored me and went immediately to the white woman who entered after me. It was she who was gracious enough to point out that I was there first and to give her some false impression they asked me what I wanted, when they put the slice in the stove I simply turned to her and said thank you and then I left and will never enter that hole again to spend my hard earned money. I will give another example, my Italian-Canadian friend had applied to a job in Mississauga and received a lot of hostile stares from the asians who were there because she is white. Time for u pple to get real!!
I am not a Ford supporter for your information as I do not share his position on subways only and I think he is a bully who’s fired pple who did not agree with him and hope everything he’s been through gives him some perspective and makes him a more decent human being cause man does he need to change!!
And one final comment cause I like to keep things real and I don’t like fakes I have read on youtube after that incident in another province that was caught on camera at a store yrs ago that an asian person had commented that that they were taking the good jobs and whites were gonna have to live on welfare. I have also read a comment online from an indian person saying that whites may be the ones with the jobs but that they were the ones getting the jobs. Get smarter and open your eyes!!
that’s why folks like him, he says what we are all thinking
Can’t believe that anyone would hire Jan Wong for anything except stabbing you in the back when she’s looking you in the face.
Oh gimme a break! At least it gave pple everywhere something to say about Toronto!!
Yawn!!
He is not a racist and u r right, everyone uses racial slurs. The irony is that most of the racists I encounter in Toronto are other ethnic pple!! All human beings are racist regardless of their skin colour or religion except for maybe the Monks!
Typical socialist marxist white guilt SJW comment. Rob did not try to stop having a shelter for gays, he said the shelter should be for all, not just gays and thats why he didn’t vote for it. gays should not get their own shelter.
doubt it, considering you all voted kathleen wynne into office, prepare for the worst 4 years yet! more union & corrupt corporation handouts, higher prices for all! TTC, Hydro, more horrible condo quality…thanks to the liberal voters! my fees went up the highest in years thanks to you!
liberals are if any the racists, they use social issues to get the vote and look sophisticated, once the peoples backs are turned, they rob everyone blind to get richer and push some other PC agenda.
Name some that he voted for.
So he didn’t try to stop it yet he voted against it right? That makes no sense.
You cannot be serious? Fame and infamy are two completely different tings. Infamy isn’t a good thing.. You people who don’t travel have no idea what it’s like being told that the people from Toronto are must be the dumbest people of planet Earth to elect a crack addicted criminal like Rob Ford. Rob Ford gave Toronto a horrible reputation. He brought great shame to our city. There hasn’t been a worse traitor since Judas yet you people cheer for thing moron like he is some kind of hero. If he even cared even one little bit about our city he would have resigned a long time ago and saved our city money. I cannot believe that you said “At least it gave people everywhere something to say about Toronto” yeah it sure did they are saying “Stay the hell away from Toronto”
Rob Ford openly admitted racism and said called people of different races and nationalities every name in the book but that is okay with you right? You still voted for the guy right? After all racism doesn’t bother you right? Do you hear that sort of language all the time when you are out with your friends?
He also said ‘Oriental people work like dogs and sleep at their machines” that is what people were upset about.
One public example discovered? What about the video of Rob Ford saying every racial slur in the book?
Sorry but I don’t use racial slurs ever!!! Not one of my friends uses racial slurs ever. You Ford nation people all pretend that everyone is a racist, an alcoholic, a chronic liar, a crack addict , a bully and a homophobe like your hero Rob but they aren’t. Sorry but you don’t have to be a monk to think that kind of behavior is completely unacceptable in everyday life let alone in public office.
My pet cat would have made a much better Mayor than Rob Ford. He is the worst Mayor in the history of the world. No one even compares.
What you don’t realize is that many of the people who voted against the Fords this time are Conservatives. I am a Conservative and I never voted for Ford. I knew that he would be a train wreck and I was correct. But I did have inside knowledge of his addictions even before the 2010 election. If Doug’s multi trillion dollar subway had went through we would be getting a double digit tax increase every year for a decade.Hydro prices are due to mistakes that were made years/decades ago by all 3 parties when they were in power. You people have to figure out that blind allegiance to a party is exactly what they want. Then they can continue to blame the other parties for all the problems. Until we start holding our own party accountable for their bad decisions this sort of thing will just continue.
You idiot, that is not why pple visit NYC more than they do Toronto! And in case you have not noticed this yr and this week even has shown just how imperfect Politicians from ALL of the parties in Canada are: from spending scandals to drug use and now sexual harassment. Get with the reality!!
Trudeau many moons ago increased immigration to such high numbers so that now Toronto is an overcrowded city with serious traffic issues, so how are they racist exactly?
I work for an advertising company and 1 day an oriental person who moved to Vancouver called our office asking how they should go about wording their ad to say that they do not want black pple applying to live in their bldg. And there have been pieces of furniture imported from China that described the colour as nigger brown, so do u pple have any idea just how racist a lot of these groups are!?!
EVERY racial group makes racial slurs and are racist, get a clue!!