A Reminder of Who Rob Ford Is …

Ontario ‘Progressive’ Conservative Party just elected Doug Ford as their leader.

Here’s a quick reminder of just a few of Ford’s traits and history as a politician:

• Family history of breaking the law/dealing drugs/involvement with white supremacists: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/globe-in…/article12153014/
• Despite his populist approach, he is one of the “elites” he denounces. He’s a salesman, not a planner:
• https://www.thestar.com/…/millionaire_doug_ford_attacks_wea
• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/doug-for…/article21067584/
• Said group homes for people with developmental disabilities “ruin” neighbourhoods and suggested group home residents shouldn’t be allowed to go outside: https://globalnews.ca/…/kathleen-wynne-responds-to-doug-fo…/
• Violated Code of Conduct while a City Councillor by using his position to assist his private business clients (and claims he shouldn’t be called on it because the investigation didn’t finish until after he’d left the role):
• https://www.google.ca/…/doug-ford-violated…/article33279091/
• As a city councillor, put his private business interests ahead of his council job and missed 53% of council votes (3rd worst attendance record):
• https://www.google.ca/…/doug_ford_had_thirdworst_attendance…
• Was forced to apologize or face legal action for accusing the chief or police of corruption after he subpoenaed Rob Ford in the criminal investigation of their family friend Sandro Lisi (who still works for Doug Ford today):
• http://www.cbc.ca/…/police-chief-bill-blair-accepts-apology…
• Defended his brother’s racist slurs by claiming “his best friends are Jewish”:
• http://nationalpost.com/…/doug-ford-announces-my-wife-is-je…
• Defended his brother’s (well documented) domestic abuse against his wife as “misunderstandings”:
• https://torontolife.com/…/rob-ford-the-weirdest-mayoralty-…/
• Unable to maintain civil relationships with the press (part of a politician’s job!) – called a female reporter “a little bitch” in hearing of many:
• https://www.google.ca/…/doug_ford_calls_toronto_star_report…
• Accused people who oppose him of orchestrating “jihads”:
• https://www.thestar.com/…/doug_fords_jihad_comments_spark_m…
• Bad behaviour on Toronto City Council including telling council chair she can’t understand English, and telling another female councillor to sit down and be quiet:
• https://globalnews.ca/…/doug-ford-erupts-into-shouting-ran…/
• handed out cash to residents in Toronto Community Housing/ wanted to use his own money to bankroll local parks, and claimed not to understand why that is considered vote-buying and is inappropriate for wealthy politicians to do; later apologized
• http://www.cbc.ca/…/doug-ford-sorry-for-handing-out-cash-wi…
• Manning Centre (think tank) report says Toronto City Council during the reign of the Fords was more contentious in a day than most city councils over years:https://www.manningcentre.ca/…/toronto-council-tracker-2010…

  Has a poor record as a City Councillor with environmental issues and providing affordable housing; the backlog of spaces in Toronto grew significantly under Rob Ford and Doug Ford supported rehiring Gene Jones, who was found to have violated policies and created a “culture of fear”

  https://torontoist.com/…/toronto-election-2014-doug-ford-o…/

I am no fan of Kathleen Wynne, but it seems like the Conservatives have made it that much easier for her to win again.

Ugh. This is intensely frustrating.

Ontario voters will be pushed into making a choice that is the least awful.

Liberal? Definitely not.

Conservative? Not on your life.

NDP? Impossible.

That leaves the Greens. Welcome to my political spectrum, Mike Schreiner!