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Rob Ford, Controversial Ex-Mayor of Toronto, Dies at 46
| New York Times | - |
Rob
Ford in a mayoral debate in Toronto in 2014. Credit Darren
Calabrese/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press. OTTAWA - Rob Ford,
the combative former mayor of Toronto whose time in office was marked by
a confession of crack cocaine use and ...
Rob Ford, the combative former mayor of Toronto who gained international notoriety with his confession of crack cocaine use, his public drunkenness and his belligerent clashes with other public officials, died on Tuesday. He was 46.
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 he 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.
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 council members and sometimes
with journalists.
Mr.
Ford ran for the mayor’s office in 2010 after the incumbent mayor, a
center leftist, decided not to seek re-election, and after a 39-day
garbage strike created the impression 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.
While
Mr. Ford showed little interest in much of the city’s business during
his time first on the City Council and then as mayor, he clearly
relished the glad-handing side of politics and followed up on
constituents’ complaints about minor matters like garbage collection,
sometimes visiting them personally.
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 he 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, who also succeeded their father at the label company.
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.
“As far as I’m concerned,” he added, “you can put that in your pipe, you left-wing kooks.”
But
an audit commissioned by Mr. Ford failed to uncover the substantial
waste in 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 Council for several major
projects he championed, including a downtown casino complex.
Even
a public weight-loss campaign organized by his brother — Mr. Ford once
described himself as being “300 pounds of fun” — 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.
“Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine,” he said “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, even making an appearance on the
late-night talk show “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, the City
Council, legally unable to remove him from office, reduced Mr. Ford to
ceremonial power. Even that process was contentious, with Mr. Ford and
his brother, then a Council member, nearly provoking a brawl with
heckling spectators. Rob Ford bowled down a 63-year-old female Council
member 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 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 re-election in the fall of 2014. Two months
before the vote, however, he was found to have malignant liposarcoma, a
rare form of cancer. Doug Ford became the family’s mayoral standard
bearer, and Rob sought his brother’s seat on the Council.
Doug’s
mayoral bid failed, but Rob was elected. His attendance at Council
meetings 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.
In
addition to his brother Doug, Mr. Ford is survived by his wife, Renata;
his children, Stephanie and Douglas, his mother, Diane; another
brother, Randy; and a sister, Kathy.
At a news conference following the 2014 election, Mr. Ford was asked how he thought his time as mayor would be remembered.
“People
know that I saved a lot of money, and people are going to know that I
had a few personal struggles,” he said. “So you can remember it for what
you want, but they’re definitely going to remember it.”
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