Mayoral candidate meets with TCN editorial board to discuss his ideas for the city

Whatever you saw him do during 10 years of city council meetings, Rob Ford wants you to know it’s not personal.

“I’m not one of these mean, vindictive types of people. I say ‘good morning’ to everyone I see,” says the Etobicoke North councillor, suggesting when he steps out of “the ring” a council chamber often becomes, he can be “buddy-buddy” with councillors he was arguing with moments before.

“Some people aren’t buddy-buddy, they take it personal,” Ford said this week while meeting with editors of Toronto Community News.

“I don’t. I understand that they have a role to play and I have a role to play.”

But can a man who admits having “cheesed off a lot of councillors” – visiting homes in other wards, he said, when local councillors fail to return their constituents’ calls – and who regularly challenges his colleagues on issues large and small, rally a majority to his side if he becomes mayor?

Though he found himself on the losing side when trying to change city budgets, Ford noted he’s gotten closer to reaching the 23-vote tally guaranteed to win.

“I was getting eight or nine votes before, now all of a sudden I’m getting 17 votes,” he said, adding after this fall’s election, “I feel very confident that I’ll have 25 votes to carry my agenda on any given day.”

Ford claims credit for rallying council behind him on one large issue – Woodbine Live, a billion-dollar “urban lifestyle centre” and new residential neighbourhood set for Etobicoke’s Woodbine Racetrack.

The developers approached him and later, Ford said, he made certain the massive project did not go to Mississauga or Vaughan. “With my business experience, I was the one who landed the deal,” he added.

“I don’t remember any other councillors doing the legwork that I did to get this deal.”

Ford said he’s seeing people, including “hard-working blue-collared workers” who don’t usually vote for conservative candidates, come into his camp, a swing Ford, whose father Doug was a Tory MPP in the Mike Harris government, compared to Harris’s trouncing of New Democrat Bob Rae in 1995.

“I’m visualizing what happened in ’90 to ’95. I think this is the Bob Rae days all over again,” he said.

But Ford said he shouldn’t be labelled a right-winger even if he is a fiscal conservative, maintaining he wasn’t on Mel Lastman’s “team” when the right-leaning Lastman was mayor – “I’ve never been on anyone’s team,” except the taxpayer’s, he said – and as mayor can work with anyone.

“There’s a role you play in opposition, there’s a role you play in leadership,” he added.

Ford, who still works for the label and tag business his father founded in Rexdale, won’t change what he calls his simple, customer-service approach to politics. He works hard – though insisting his father worked even harder – to answer every e-mail and phone call personally, even those from residents outside his ward.

“Obviously, being in the mayor’s chair, (I) won’t be able to do that. But I can guarantee that the civil servants and the councilors will be doing that,” Ford pledged.

“Mrs. Jones out in Scarborough, all she wants is her sidewalk fixed or her pothole fixed. I will take the call, I will go out and see Mrs. Jones in Scarborough and I will get it done. And I’ve been doing it for 10 years.”

When everyday services such as pothole-filling aren’t performed, Ford said he can’t see a reason why, particularly when the city has been adding more employees – too many, he says – to its payroll.

“We don’t need five guys driving around in a truck to cut one branch. I see it all the time,” said Ford, who would hire on workers only at half the rate of attrition and added he’d look at scrapping the city’s Fair Wage policy, which he said costs taxpayers millions.

“Just because you do work for the city (as a contractor), you have to pay (your employees) city rates? I don’t believe you should.”

Ford said he won’t promise voters a zero-per-cent property tax increase, “but I’ll guarantee we’re not going to go higher than the rate of inflation, which is 1.8 or 1.9 when I last checked. People can live with that,” he said, pledging he’ll “look under every single rock” for possible savings.

The candidate also promised to record how every council votes on every issue, simplify the language of motions “for the average person out there to understand,” and to post the results, as well as every dime of city spending, online.

His administration, “will be as transparent as that bottle of water there,” Ford said. “And I will make every councilor and every bureaucrat accountable for what they spend.”

~ Mike Adler

Doug Ford to seek seat held by brother Rob for past 10 years

There will be two Fords on the ballot in Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) in the fall municipal election, now that mayoralty candidate Rob Ford’s brother and campaign manager Doug Ford has announced his candidacy.

“I will be running and announcing tonight,” said Doug Ford in an interview Friday, Aug. 6.

“It’s going to be really exciting, not only for the ward, but for our city and our family.”

The elder Ford had been rumoured to be seeking the seat on council that Rob Ford has held for the last decade, but until Friday, he had been coy about his intentions, only saying that “a Ford” would be on the ballot Oct. 25.

Doug Ford, 45, has been working as campaign manager for Rob Ford through the spring and summer, at the same time as he worked as president of the family printing company, Deco Labels.

He said that if he wins his brother’s seat and Rob Ford becomes mayor, he’ll let the company’s managers run Deco Labels, and let his brother run the city.

“I’m going to just be a councillor,” said Doug. “It would be a conflict of interest if I took any major role down there. I’m not there for a paycheque, just to do a job like any other councillor, and help Rob.”

To that end, he admitted that the family connections would likely mean he’d consult with his brother about larger city issues.

“I think being his brother, you know, we talk every single night from 12 o’clock to one in the morning. We bounce ideas off each other,” he said. “You can’t help but talk. Rob and my other brother are my best friends, and I’m going to support Rob if he has the privilege of serving the city.”

Doug said he shares his brother’s fiscal conservatism, and would intend to look after Ward 2 in the same manner that Rob has.

“I’m going to do the same thing that Rob’s doing, servicing the people of Ward 2,” he said. “Our family has been here for 50 years, we’ve had them over to our house a hundred times. It’s a close-knit community. They voice their opinion when I go into the local Loblaws, the cleaners, people come up to you and share their views. I’m the part time councillor right now.”

~ David Nickle

Etobicoke councillor confirms months of speculation about running for mayor

Etobicoke North’s famously frugal councillor Rob Ford officially announced his bid for the mayoralty this morning during his regular weekly appearance on AM640’s John Oakley Show.


Making good on his promise to Oakley that he’d be the first in the know, Ford, flanked by his mother Diane and brothers Andy and Doug, finally went on the record about his candidacy after months of speculation that he’d run to replace Mayor David Miller come Oct. 25.

“Today I’d like to officially say that I’m running for mayor of Toronto,” he stated, to cheers from his well-wishing “entourage” in the studio. 
“I gave David Miller the benefit of the doubt in his first term, but the last four years I’ve seen this city deteriorate to where people just can’t afford to live in the city…We’ve been hit with the land transfer tax, a garbage tax, a car registration taxes, property taxes, the water rates have gone up 20 per cent – we’re being taxed to death,” he continued.

With a decade of experience in both business and in politics, Ford said he’s just the kind of mayoral candidate the city needs to turn itself around and encourage a left-to-right regime change to replace those “tax and spend” councillors on council.

“We need someone with business experience like I have running a multi-million dollar company for the last 10 years. I have ten years of political experience; I know how to get things done in city hall,” he said. “Most importantly, I’m flexible – I can take care of the little people who don’t have a voice.”

When questioned how his frugal ways would mesh with a city rife with both debt (to the tune of $3 billion, according to Ford) and a need for social services, Ford contended that it doesn’t cost a lot of money to deliver excellent services.

“The most frustrating thing is when people call city hall and don’t get a call back, or no one responds to email. That doesn’t cost money,” he said.

“That’s leadership. That starts from the top. That comes from the mayor’s office.”

Doug Ford, who it has been speculated might run to replace his younger brother as councillor in Ward 2, said running for mayor and “standing up and speaking out” was deemed Ford’s “moral obligation” once John Tory bowed out of the race.

“Rob is a compassionate and caring person and he has a heart,” he said. “That’s what he’s going to bring to the mayor’s office.”

Ford will unveil his official campaign platform at a complimentary Wine and Cheese party tomorrow night, Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Toronto Congress Centre’s North Building, 650 Dixon Rd. (at Hwy. 27 and Dixon Road). Ford said all are welcome to attend the free-of-charge event in celebration of his “10 years of working for the people.”

– Cynthia Reason

City councillor Rob Ford gave no clue – well, no direct answer – to the question of whether he will announce his candidacy for mayor at a “Complimentary Wine and Cheese with Councillor Rob Ford” party next Friday, March 26.

“I can’t say,” he said, when asked in an interview whether the party celebrating 10 years on city council would be the announcement of his mayoral bid. “We’re not releasing any information right now.”

When asked what was going to be on the menu, he said: “Wine. Cheese. Fruit. Food. People. Music. DJs. Dancing. And a couple of speakers.”

But Ford has made no secret of the fact that he is contemplating a mayoralty run in 2010 – after having spent the past decade as one of Toronto council’s most outspoken, and controversial, critics from the far right end of the spectrum.

Ford has maintained that he’s getting considerable support as he’s considering his run. But earlier this year, Ford conducted a poll to see how well he might fare in a mayoralty race.

With Toronto Transit Commission Chair Adam Giambrone still in the race, he said he placed third behind former deputy premier George Smitherman and Giambrone.

Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, who represents Etobicoke Centre, tartly noted that according to Ford’s own poll, Smitherman would beat him even on his home turf in Etobicoke.

“I recall that he was dismayed to see he didn’t win Etobicoke,” said Lindsay Luby, who Ford once referred to as a “waste of skin” during a council meeting. “The question you have to ask (when assessing your popularity) is do you hear loud voices or do you hear the broader community?”

For his part, Ford did his best to remain closed-mouth about his plans.

But during an interview about councillors’ $53,100 expense accounts, he answered a question asking whether he would, as mayor, slash those accounts: “That’s for sure. Guaranteed, cut in half. When I decide to run for mayor. And if I decide.”

Ford continued on about various issues that have arisen in the campaign. He dismissed candidate Sarah Thomson’s plan to charge $5 tolls on the DVP and Gardiner Expressway to pay for new subways as “insanity.”

“I don’t think she’s had enough experience talking to taxpayers. I know I won’t support it and I don’t think the taxpayers will support paying $5 to get on the DVP.”

He did like subways, though – as long as the money could come from somewhere else.

“You have to sit down with Flaherty and Harper or you’d have to get the private sector and sell them development rights above the subway,” he said.

And he said bike lanes – another big issue – were fine downtown.

“But put them along Rexdale Boulevard in Rexdale, my constituents, very few of them use their bikes to get them to or from work,” he continued. “There are 18-wheel tractor-trailers and I don’t think bikes are safe in industrial or commercial areas. But downtown – sure, if I lived downtown in a condo and had to scoot from one place to another, a bike is fine.”

And as to the Gardiner teardown?

“I’m definitely keeping the Gardiner,” he said. If he decides to run for mayor.

Ford’s party will take place at the Toronto Congress Centre – North buiding at 650 Dixon Rd., March 26 at 7 p.m.