Ford resembles an elephant besieged by a pride of lions, clawing and biting at him until he falls to his knees and succumbs. Except he’s not succumbing. The trail of blood behind him now includes five staff members and still he lumbers on. It’s a surreal spectacle, a slow-motion kill, that has riveted — and paralyzed — a city.
Contrast this drawn-out drama with the departure in November 2012 of the erstwhile mayor of Montreal, Gerald Tremblay. Controversy had been swirling around Tremblay and his Union Montreal for quite a while, but came to a boil during hearings by Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission investigating corruption in the construction industry. Within a month, two witnesses testified that Union Montreal was receiving kickbacks of three per cent on municipal contracts, and that the Mafia was involved in the party’s financing.
Tremblay resigned a few days after the second allegation was made. He told the press that Quebec Premier Pauline Marois had called him, suggesting that he “take some time off and think about things.” As in Ford’s case, the allegations against Tremblay were just that: allegations. No one was convicted, no smoking gun (or video) was found. But when Tremblay saw he had lost the confidence of the provincial government, he exited stage left.
It’s unlikely Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne would hold similar sway over Ford. Even if she did, she doesn’t seem in the mood to use it. She said that Ford should “confront his personal issues” but that “(r)ight now, there is no clear path of action for the province … ” — because the allegations against him are allegations only.
Wynne might be reluctant to knife Ford for another reason: the fear that it would galvanize Ford Nation (the hardcore supporters Ford still maintains) against her Liberals in the next general election. In Montreal, there is no such risk: Municipal parties there are not as closely aligned with provincial parties as in Ontario, where the Conservatives hoped to capitalize on Ford support in the last vote, and where the NDP is agitating to get Olivia Chow out of Ottawa and into the mayor’s chair.
If they were hoping for an early vote, however, the Dippers may be disappointed. Ford appears indefatigable. Unless the infamous crack video is actually broadcast on network television, it appears he will stay until the increasingly bitter end in October 2014.
And that’s a problem, because the story isn’t about the video anymore. It’s about the mismanagement of this exercise — with Ford hiding behind his brother for a week before finally facing the cameras. It’s about the decimation of his staff, which shows a lack of confidence in his administration. And it’s about the impact this is having on the management, and the image, of the city.
Toronto has become an international laughingstock, fodder for late-night talk shows and cartoonists. Ford’s foul-up is also paving the way for the Revenge of the Left, including the election of Chow. All of this is a shame, because from a financial perspective, Toronto became a better place during Ford’s fiscally-conservative tenure.
According to an article in Bloomberg, “Toronto bonds, rated Aa1 at Moody’s, are up 2.1 per cent this year compared with 1.5 per cent for Vancouver, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index. Canadian cities and provinces returned an average 0.6 per cent, the index shows. As other provincial governments struggle to tame deficits amid slowing growth and shrinking revenues, Toronto in 2012 cut spending for the first time since it was amalgamated with five surrounding suburbs in 1998 while its debt burden is half the average of other Canadian cities …”
If Ford really cares about taxpayers, he will clean up his act before the city gets cleaned out by his successor. And if he can’t get a handle on his personal life, his staff and his public image, then (sadly) it’s time for him to go — and time for us to hope that a credible candidate takes up his agenda, before it becomes too tainted to prevail.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca
Author: Tasha Kheiriddin
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