Rob is the R word, of course. If you live in the Greater Toronto area there is no escaping that word these days. In the rest of the world Rob is making his presence known, but there are other news stories that have the headlines.
I’ve watched this drama unfold with interest – I’m a political junkie, have been for years (to be clear that is not the same thing as a real junkie and no, I have never smoked crack cocaine) and this is fascinating.
From a legal perspective, it has been interesting to see the use of the Municipal Act and City of Toronto Act by Council to curb the Mayor’s powers. I believe this has shown the gaping hole in the Municipal Act that the Provincial Government needs to plug: when and how can a Mayor be removed from office. If the legislation had addressed this issue, much of the circus would have been avoided and it is important that not happen again.
From the political perspective, the lack of savvy of Rob Ford is shocking. If he is sober, as he alleges, and he is still being as inappropriate as he is, what on earth is going on? Someone who has been a politician as long as Rob Ford has should know what language can be used when: it simply doesn’t add up.
As many observers have noted, the formula for Rob Ford to emerge from this “victorious” is: Go away for 60 days to “deal with your personal issues” (even if you don’t believe you have any), come back and work hard, in a muted manner, then run for re-election.
Rob Ford has decided to skip step one – which makes victory unlikely.
Of course, this is pretty entertaining to watch … of course, finding this entertaining is probably just as wrong as using in appropriate language in a news scrum.