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Rob Ford, Controversial Ex-Mayor of Toronto, Dies at 46 Rob Ford, Controversial Ex-Mayor of Toronto, Dies at 46
(about 1 hour later)
OTTAWA — Rob Ford, the combative former mayor of Toronto whose time in office was marked by a confession of crack cocaine use and police reports of other excesses, died on Tuesday. He was 46. Rob Ford, the combative former mayor of Toronto who gained international notoriety with his confession of crack cocaine use and drunkenness his belligerant clashes with other public officials, died on Tuesday. He was 46.
Mr. Ford had been undergoing treatment for cancer since September 2014. His death was announced in a brief statement from his office. His office announced his death but gave no other details. Mr. Ford had been undergoing cancer treatment since September 2014.
Along with his brother Doug, Mr. Ford was a controversial figure in Toronto politics for years, drawing support largely from conservative residents of suburban communities that had been absorbed into the City of Toronto. In 2013 Mr. Ford gained international notoriety when he acknowledged smoking crack cocaine while in one of his “drunken stupors.” Along with his brother Doug, Mr. Ford was a controversial figure in Toronto politics for years, drawing support largely from conservative residents of suburban communities that had been absorbed into the City of Toronto. In 2013 Mr. Ford acknowledged smoking crack cocaine while in what he called one of his “drunken stupors.”
After his cancer diagnosis, Mr. Ford withdrew from his mayoral re-election campaign in favor of his brother, who was defeated. But Rob Ford did win the seat on the city council that Doug Ford had held.After his cancer diagnosis, Mr. Ford withdrew from his mayoral re-election campaign in favor of his brother, who was defeated. But Rob Ford did win the seat on the city council that Doug Ford had held.
A complete obituary will follow. The son of a millionaire, Mr. Ford built his power base among mainly blue collar, conservative voters — “the Ford Nation,” he called them — in former suburbs that had been absorbed into the City of Toronto in 1998. Mr. Ford was a lifelong resident of one such suburb, Etobicoke.
He echoed his constitutents’ view that urban elitists were inflating taxes through social service programs and excessively generous contracts with public sector unions.
In office he took a belligerent approach to governing, engaging in profanity-laden shouting matches with city councilors and sometimes journalists.
While Mr. Ford showed little interest in much of the city’s business during both his time on city council and then as mayor, he clearly relished the glad handing side of politics and followed up, sometimes through personal visits, on constituent’s complaints about minor matters like garbage collection.
Although Mr. Ford’s father, Doug, had been a member of a Progressive Conservative provincial government with a populist, anti-elitist bent, it was not immediately obvious that the future mayor would follow a similar path. After a single year at university in Ottawa, where Mr. Ford was disappointed not to start a single game for the college’s football team, he joined his siblings at their father’s successful adhesive label business.
Much of Mr. Ford’s political career was guided by his brother Doug Ford Jr., who also succeeded their father at the label company.
Mr. Ford ran for the mayor’s office in 2010 after the incumbent mayor, a center leftist, decided not to seek reelection and following garbage strike which created the impression of that the city was heading out of control. The Ford brothers concentrated their resources in the suburbs and focused campaigning on a promised to “Stop the Gravy Train” at city hall.
For his inauguration as mayor, Mr. Ford invited Don Cherry, the prominent and similarly bombastic television hockey commentator, to speak. Known for his flamboyant clothing, Mr. Cherry appeared in a pink sport jacket and said “I’m wearing pinko for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles and everything” before predicting great things for Mr. Ford’s administration, adding: “As far as I’m concerned you can put that in your pipe you left-wing kooks.”
But an audit commissioned by Mr. Ford failed to uncover the substantial waste within the city’s operations that he had promised to eliminate. And his blunt approach to politics meant that Mr. Ford was unable to build enough support among members of the city’s council for several major projects he championed, including a downtown casino complex.
Even a public weight loss campaign—Mr. Ford once described himself as being “300 pounds of fun”—organized by Doug Ford faded away without results.
In May 2013, Mr. Ford’s fame and infamy, took on a global sweep when Gawker and The Toronto Star both said their reporters had viewed a video of Mr. Ford smoking crack.
Months of vigorous denials from both Ford brothers followed. But, that November, Mr. Ford, surrounded by reporters outside of his city hall office, confessed [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/world/americas/toronto-mayor-admits-smoking-crack.html]
“Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine,” he said “But no, do I, am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors.”
After that, a floodgate opened adding to the embarrassment of many in Toronto and providing ripe material for comedians, particularly in the United States. Mr. Ford played along, making an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmell Live. Extensive police surveillance evidence released by a court showed that Mr. Ford associated with criminals and apparently knew few limits when it came to satisfying his lascivious tastes.
After Mr. Ford rejected widespread calls for his resignation, Toronto’s city council, legally unable to remove him from office, reduced Mr. Ford to holding only ceremonial power. Even that process was contentious, with Mr. Ford and Doug Ford, then a council member, nearly provoking a brawl with heckling spectators. Rob Ford bowled down a 63 year old female councillor as he rushed to Doug’s aid.
But while much of Toronto cringed, the often lurid revelations about Mr. Ford’s private life seemed to bolster his support among many members of the Ford Nation. They appeared in greater numbers than ever at free barbecues the two brothers had long organized for supporters.
As a result, Mr. Ford ran for reelection in the fall of 2014. Two months before the voted, however, he was diagnosed with malignant liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Doug became the family’s mayoral standard bearer and Rob sought his brother’s seat on council.
Doug Ford’s mayoral bid failed but Rob was reelected. His attendance that council varied with his cancer treatments after that. But when he appeared, Mr. Ford, usually wearing a track suit rather than business attire, often displayed his old political form.