City
Morning Brew: Fallout from the Ford verdict continues, a history of MCIA breaches, "canx" meme goes viral, discussing Casa Loma's future, and charges in toy theft
Say what you like about municipal politics in Toronto, but it's never boring (well, at least not for long.) In case you somehow managed to miss it yesterday, a judge has found Rob Ford did breach the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA) and ordered he be removed from office in just under two weeks. In the immediate aftermath Ford ally councillor Georgio Mammoliti quit the mayor's executive committee and Josh Matlow called the decision a cue to "read the rulebook."
Today, council convenes for its regularly scheduled meeting. Rob Ford, however, could be a partial no show. It's the Grey Cup parade and Don Bosco Eagles' big championship game tonight at the Rogers Centre. Doug Ford told the mayor's supporters to turn out in support at the game, which starts at 8 pm.
Our leader might be the most high-profile mayor to get the hook under the conflict-of-interest legislation but there are plenty of others. In the tension before the court released the judge's decision The Star's David Rider accidentally let a preprepared Tweet escape, resulting in a new meme for all. Oh, and here's the obligatory GIF.
Some people just can't wait until Ford is out of office. Here's a website counting down the days until Justice Hackland's ruling comes into force.
Councillors, board members, and local residents gathered to discuss the future of Casa Loma last night. Josh Matlow said it was "shameful" that Toronto doesn't have a home for its valuables and trinkets. Would you like to see a civic museum at Casa Loma?
Surely a contender for the year's biggest grinch, former Salvation Army exec David Rennie has been charged with theft, possession of property obtained by crime and criminal breach of trust by Toronto police after the theft of nearly $2 million in toys destined for needy children over the course of two years. Rennie is the former manager of a Salvation Army toy warehouse.
IN BRIEF:
- Man injured after tractor-trailor rolls over on Gardiner Expressway [The Star]
- Swansea school sets up memorial for teacher killed Friday [CBC]
- The 27-year-old who triggered Rob Ford's downfall [The Star]
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
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Awesome, he should have just wrote a check out of his office budget.
Just goes to show, even as mayor, you can't fight City Hall.
I guess we can't expect the same for his supporters.
Oh man, this Ford thing is crazy. He broke the law! How hard is that to grasp? And not some technical rule, he voted on whether or not he should personally repay $3000 dollars! All the idiots siding with Ford over this would be the first to scream for blood if any left-wing councilors took campaign donations from the casino lobbyists. It's just so depressing how stupid or hypocritical some people are.
Look. No one is denying that some, if not the majority, of politicians have filthy hands. The key is not to be so brazen and obvious and shockingly arrogant about it, otherwise people WILL try to hang you. That's what happened to Ford. If David Miller was as brazen, arrogant, and obvious about his conflicts of interest and had a history of calling the city to get a new sidewalk paved in front of his house, he'd have people on both sides of the political spectrum calling for his head too.
Oh, it is NOW, for sure. Just keep sweeping those acts by lefty politicians under the rug, eh? Last time I checked, $12,000 was MORE than $3,000, and if you want arrogance, just google Rae's reaction. He DESERVED it. It was OK for him to do it. Etc. Ad naseum.
Ford was wrong. Wrong to solicit the money. Wrong to not pay it back. Wrong to vote on it. Wrong wrong wrong. And he's out. I get it.
I only asked, and will ask again, where were all these Hardy Boys when their side was soaking the system?
BTW, Chretien blew BILLIONS cancelling helicopters. People got over it. Will, Liberals did...
Councillors have a budget that's assigned to them. Rae had every right to throw a party using the funds from his budget. It was stupid, but not illegal. What Ford did was illegal. Period. Exclamation point.
We can't jail politicians for wasting money on policy though, since that's a judgement call. Otherwise they would never do anything because they'd be too afraid. I don't like that Harper is spending billions on American jets instead of buying ones that have already been developed. That doesn't mean I think he should be held legally accountable for it, since he's just doing what he was elected to do.
Use tax money to pay for son's wedding = keep your mayor job.
All depends on who your supporters are.
Ford should rent a fucking bunny suit and wear it to the next council meeting. Show what a farce this all is.
The funniest part is that most of the people throwing the terms around couldn't even explain what the political spectrum is, or plot where communism or fascism fall along it. And I happen to know several people that regularly vote Conservative who are plenty fed up with Ford and the damage that he's done to the Conservative brand.
Also, the judge in question is a Harper appointee, an inconvenient fact that you Ford apologists like to ignore because it destroys your ridiculous persecution narrative.
BTW - nice touch with the comparison to Fontana, but really, its apples to oranges. If someone were wiling to bring a court case against Fontana, the outcome could very well be the same. Besides, in Ford's case, when his conflict was pointed out to him, and he was ordered to repay the money, he refused and instead attacked the messenger, in his typical manner. So really you could say his approach to this was no different than Fontana's.
Nice try though.