Mayor Rob Ford

[Joe S.]

http://www.cp24.com/news/ford/ford-approval-rating-almost-unchanged-after-apology-1.1528664

Or with a nearly unchanged approval rating, its not out of the question that he could actually contend in another race.

From the article:
Forum Research said Ford?s strongest support is among Toronto?s oldest, least wealthy and least educated residents, drivers, property owners and people who live in suburbs, especially Scarborough, where the mayor has been pushing for a subway extension.

Ford?s fiercest opponents are younger, wealthier and better educated Torontonians, in addition to transit users, renters and residents of downtown and East York, according to the poll released Tuesday morning.

The above speaks volumes of segments of the city's population on who's pro vs anti-Ford.

 

[Joe S.]

I do not live in Toronto, so I don't have a vote - but the last time I did, just for the record, I did vote for Enza Supermodel.

 

[Kin]

And then?

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/07/i-need-f---in-10-minutes-to-make-sure-hes-dead-new-rob-ford-video-surfaces?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=recommend-button&utm_campaign

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/07/mayor_rob_ford_caught_in_video_rant.html

In fairness, the person our cracked out Mayor is talking about killing there is probably some no good user of social programs or member of a freeloadin' union. END THE GRAVY TRAIN.

 

[#1PilarFan]

And then?

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/07/i-need-f---in-10-minutes-to-make-sure-hes-dead-new-rob-ford-video-surfaces?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=recommend-button&utm_campaign

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/07/mayor_rob_ford_caught_in_video_rant.html

If that man ain't coked up, I don't know what's what.

 

[TML fan]

Seems he is content to let the people decide his fate.

Sure. But meanwhile, who knows how much damage or how much more of this freak show will go on over the next 11.5 months while he's still in the mayor's chair.  That to me is the problem. If the election was in six weeks.. great.  But a year is too long to have to wait to deal with this guy.

What actual damage has he done though? Oh my god Jimmy Kimmel made fun of us! Who cares? Frankly, I'm more embarrassed by our public transportation system then I am by Rob Ford's behaviour.

Until he's forced out of office, or until the next election, Rob Ford is the mayor. He's not stepping down. Nobody has to like it, but everyone has to accept it. It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

 

[Kin]

It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

The council's duty is actually to advance the interests of the citizens of Toronto and working to implement the agenda of the crack smoking Mayor probably doesn't fall into that category for a lot of them.

 

[Frank E]

Seems he is content to let the people decide his fate.

Sure. But meanwhile, who knows how much damage or how much more of this freak show will go on over the next 11.5 months while he's still in the mayor's chair.  That to me is the problem. If the election was in six weeks.. great.  But a year is too long to have to wait to deal with this guy.

What actual damage has he done though? Oh my god Jimmy Kimmel made fun of us! Who cares? Frankly, I'm more embarrassed by our public transportation system then I am by Rob Ford's behaviour.

Until he's forced out of office, or until the next election, Rob Ford is the mayor. He's not stepping down. Nobody has to like it, but everyone has to accept it. It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

I disagree.  It is the job of the populace to ensure their voices are heard, and continue to demand he resign, if that's what they want. 

Regardless, I'm pretty certain he's going to get a phone call from the province, or the Harper government, suggesting that he'd best just resign rather than having them remove him from office forcefully.

 

[Corn Flake]

Seems he is content to let the people decide his fate.

Sure. But meanwhile, who knows how much damage or how much more of this freak show will go on over the next 11.5 months while he's still in the mayor's chair.  That to me is the problem. If the election was in six weeks.. great.  But a year is too long to have to wait to deal with this guy.

What actual damage has he done though? Oh my god Jimmy Kimmel made fun of us! Who cares? Frankly, I'm more embarrassed by our public transportation system then I am by Rob Ford's behaviour.

Until he's forced out of office, or until the next election, Rob Ford is the mayor. He's not stepping down. Nobody has to like it, but everyone has to accept it. It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

So it's all fine and good he continues to work even though he has drug and alcohol problems, fraternizes with criminals at crack houses, utters death threats on the latest video (to start) and has become such a massive poop storm and distraction to everyone at city hall they can't possibly get a single thing done because of him.

If you want to simply frame it around the city being run, it is very obvious that he and his issues are standing in the way of the city being able to move forward. 

And I won't get into how much a steaming pile of BS his claims of tax savings and transit success are.

 

[Champ Kind]

Seems he is content to let the people decide his fate.

Sure. But meanwhile, who knows how much damage or how much more of this freak show will go on over the next 11.5 months while he's still in the mayor's chair.  That to me is the problem. If the election was in six weeks.. great.  But a year is too long to have to wait to deal with this guy.

What actual damage has he done though? Oh my god Jimmy Kimmel made fun of us! Who cares? Frankly, I'm more embarrassed by our public transportation system then I am by Rob Ford's behaviour.

Until he's forced out of office, or until the next election, Rob Ford is the mayor. He's not stepping down. Nobody has to like it, but everyone has to accept it. It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

So it's all fine and good he continues to work even though he has drug and alcohol problems, fraternizes with criminals at crack houses, utters death threats on the latest video (to start) and has become such a massive poop storm and distraction to everyone at city hall they can't possibly get a single thing done because of him.

If you want to simply frame it around the city being run, it is very obvious that he and his issues are standing in the way of the city being able to move forward. 

And I won't get into how much a steaming pile of BS his claims of tax savings and transit success are.

Corn has stated the objective facts.  If you'll allow me an ounce of conjecture and assumption, there HAVE to be some deep, dark, brooding skeletons in that there closet.  I'm fairly certain the crack and boorish rants are the tip of the iceberg.

 

[bustaheims]

Regardless, I'm pretty certain he's going to get a phone call from the province, or the Harper government, suggesting that he'd best just resign rather than having them remove him from office forcefully.

While I'm sure he'll get a number of phone calls suggesting he resigns, the Province can't actually force him out without having him convicted of a criminal offence and the Feds basically have no jurisdiction when it comes to municipal issues. What Ford has done here has really exposed a significant hole in the laws. City Council and/or the Province needs to have a mechanism which allows them to remove municipal officers for other legitimate reasons, and I imagine that legislation is forthcoming - at least, I hope it is.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

There really isn't some rule that you can't do drugs while mayor?  That seems like something that would have been somewhere.

 

[bustaheims]

There really isn't some rule that you can't do drugs while mayor?  That seems like something that would have been somewhere.

You'd think taking part in illegal activity would be enough, but, no, they actually have to be charged and convicted of doing so, regardless of much much evidence there may be. He can't be charged in this case, since being high in private is not illegal, even if the act of getting high is - you actually have to be caught in the act of using to be charged, unfortunately (well, unfortunately, in this case - in the grand scheme of things, it's better that way).

 

[Redleaf]

Seems he is content to let the people decide his fate.

Sure. But meanwhile, who knows how much damage or how much more of this freak show will go on over the next 11.5 months while he's still in the mayor's chair.  That to me is the problem. If the election was in six weeks.. great.  But a year is too long to have to wait to deal with this guy.

What actual damage has he done though? Oh my god Jimmy Kimmel made fun of us! Who cares? Frankly, I'm more embarrassed by our public transportation system then I am by Rob Ford's behaviour.

Until he's forced out of office, or until the next election, Rob Ford is the mayor. He's not stepping down. Nobody has to like it, but everyone has to accept it. It is the council's duty to work with him to get things done. If they can't do that, then they have failed us just as much as Ford has.

Ian? Is this you?

 

[AtomicMapleLeaf]

As much of a dink Ford seems to be, I'll trade you one Rob Ford a handful of Tea Baggers.

 

[dappleganger]

Can we stop blaming Rob Ford for being who he is and start blaming the people who voted for him, or better yet, the people who didn't vote for anyone and now complain about Rob Ford.

 

[Kin]

Can we stop blaming Rob Ford for being who he is and start blaming the people who voted for him, or better yet, the people who didn't vote for anyone and now complain about Rob Ford.

I mean, sure, but it's not like that will be any more fruitful. I mean, the old expression that you can't reason people out of what they didn't reason into in the first place probably holds here and if people thought that Rob Ford, even with all we knew about him before this, was the best choice to run the city then I don't know if crack use is going to be the straw that breaks that camel's back.

And besides, I don't know if "being who he is" excuses him from having to face up to the responsibilities of the office he's in.

 

[drummond]

I know it is of a little solace to you but look what the Czechs have to bear with:

Former president became legendary for stealing the pen during official press conference during his visit to Chile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMoaJCd6qMk

Current president shows up drunk at the desplay of centuries old, almost sacred corronation jewels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVypemGlcCE


This is what I call when your elected leader/representaative is getting ridiculous, just type "Klaus stealing pen" on youtube and you get hundreds of videos, parodies etc.

 

[Joe S.]

I'm not really an expert on municipal politics, but in theory, the mayor doesn't have any more power than the Councillors? The mayor is just another vote on the council... or do I have this wrong?

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

I'm not really an expert on municipal politics, but in theory, the mayor doesn't have any more power than the Councillors? The mayor is just another vote on the council... or do I have this wrong?

"A common power structure is the council-weak mayor. This type of structure gives the majority of the city power to the council members, with the mayor acting as more of a ceremonial leader of the council. This traditional form of governing, which was adopted from the British style of local government, sets up the mayor as a member of the council, equal to all other members, except for a few other responsibilities. The mayor in this structure may have final authority over fiscal issues and will usually be the presiding member over all the council meetings, sign proclamations for the city and make ceremonial appearances.  - http://people.howstuffworks.com/government/local-politics/mayor1.htm

so I guess the answer to your question is, yes, more or less

 

[bustaheims]

I'm not really an expert on municipal politics, but in theory, the mayor doesn't have any more power than the Councillors? The mayor is just another vote on the council... or do I have this wrong?

To put things in an NHL-esque perspective, his powers are sort of like a combination of Bettman's and Jeremy Jacobs'. He sets agendas for the meetings, is the tie-breaking vote and has limited authority in certain areas. There isn't a whole lot he can achieve on his own, but he can prevent a fair amount of stuff from being achieved. He decides on who heads up executive committees, etc. He has a fair amount of influence on what direction the city takes, but, he can't make things happen on his own. He is also the public face of the city, and that's the area where you can point out his most obvious failures as mayor.