Rob Ford gets roughed up at the AGO, of all places
Don’t mess with artsy folks: the Globe is reporting that at the latest of the city’s never-ending series of mayoral debates, Rob Ford was handily dressed down by his opponents, the crowd and pretty much everyone else.
When Mr. Ford launched into his standard biographical riff in answer to the first question about city planning, someone in the audience shouted: “Answer the question!”
Later, as Mr. Ford extolled his customer service record—“I personally have returned 250,000 calls in 10 years”—candidate Rocco Rossi cut him off. “Are you doing the math? This is 70 calls a day, including Christmas. Come on, are you a one-man call centre or what?”
And when Mr. Ford boasted about making the rough North Etobicoke neighbourhood of Rexdale “look like Rosedale,” the audience burst out laughing.
It was not clear at press time whether the angry mob was holding their torches and pitchforks with pinkies raised.
This is the flip side of being first in a crowded campaign: Rob Ford is (slightly) ahead with about 18 per cent of the vote. That means that 82 per cent of voters are looking at someone else, and in the downtown core, those numbers are even higher. (The same poll that put Ford in first showed he still trails Smitherman in pre-amalgamation Toronto.)
On the plus side, if the rest of the mayor’s campaign is a shout-off between Smitherman, Ford, Rossi and anyone else who happens to be in the room with them, this is going to be a fun summer.
• Mayoral rivals bear down on front-runner in debate [Globe and Mail]
Images: Ford, Shaun Merritt; AGO, Ian Muttoo
The sad reality of it all. Rob Ford couldn’t organize a fart.
Rob Ford is an obtuse and invariably abrasive person. Now, add hypocrite to that list. Of course people who have been educated in the design, structure and function of cities are against him. To dismiss them as ‘an NDP crowd’ is a childish reaction to being faced by a group that requires more than catch phrases and emotional rhetoric to deem a candidate support worthy.
I agree 100% – this guy is not leadership material – he’s only going to end up embarassing himself but he’s not smart enough to see that. Read up on his major major gaffes – he’s an embarassment – really. plus, his health won’t hold out. he’s had one too many dozen donuts for breakfast.
Ford is trailing Smitherman in “pre-almagamation Toronto”?????? What? Any possible relevance to anything?? (Hey, how’s he doing in pre-1967 merger Leaside? In pre-1954 Metro creation Forest Hill?) The fact that you actually deem that somehow worthy of mention – and yes, it was clearly meant in the absolute worst “nothing matters past Bayview/Bathurst/Lawrence” elitist manner – solidifies my vote for him (and I am no right wing nut).
Ford all the way. The rest of you are the type of voters who got us in this mess in the first place. Who cares how beautiful the architecture is when I acnnot afford to leave the house in order to see it. Or when I am working overtime in order to pay the taxes. I too want to see the architecture therefore I will vote for Rob Ford.
Vince, I fail to see Rob Ford display the intelligence needed to save enough money from the budget for tax cuts without seriously compromising the vitality and livability of this city. His claim to fame is that he didn’t spend his office budget but he’s rich enough to afford it.