Rob Ford's Toronto

[ParkdalePetunia]

There are a bunch of Toronto bands who have tweeted about being upset about all of this. Broken Social Scene, Hollorado, Danko Jones. Also celebrities: Sarah Polley for example (even approaching Olivia Chow and Bob Rae would draw a crowd). I think if it was well enough organized you could get some "big" names there and that would bring out the crowd.

 

[jaycola]

I am not a supporter of Ford. He hasn't done anything to improve the city. He makes these half assed announcements for transit or development schemes without knowledge, guidance or research. He is a poor representative for this city. He has addiction problems and is not fit to be mayor of this city. Yet, he was democratically elected to office by the citizens of this city. He has never been charged with, drunk driving or any crime while in office. I never doubted the tape was real, not for a moment and none of my posts ever indicated such. Some members of city council have worked against him at every opportunity, not because the issue at hand but because they would rather not support anything he is in favour of.

I selected the Baloch executions because I searched "political prisoners executed" in google news and it was top of the page. I used the provincial Liberal's as an example because I am surprised at the lack of outrage at that scandal. I can't think of anything comparable done by the Federal conservatives that would warrant protests on the street. If you have something they have done worth protesting, go for it. It's likely worse than one man's personal addiction problems.

Protesting at his personal residence should be off limits. You want to hurt his children? don't put the blame on him. Your actions are intended to shame an individual without regard to innocent children. Nice...I don't have a lot of respect for your position.

 

[LowPolygon]

The media campaign against him has been too personal from the start. It is that attention to his personal issues more than anything done in the course of his duties as mayor which drew the international attention.

Wrong, wrong, dead wrong. It is his personal issues themselves, and his gobsmackingly outrageous, self-destructive, irresponsible, foolhardy, and asinine behaviour, which drew the international attention. To wit: not only the smoking of crack cocaine, but the filming of said activity; not only the criminal connections; not only the alcoholism; not only the mysterious drops of obscure packages; all compounded by the obvious LIES and evasions. The world turned its morbid attention to Rob Ford because no one could believe that this maniac could actually be in a position of any influence. People this tragic, bizarre and ridiculous only come around every few hundred years or so, so you can't blame the world for gawking.

 

[Parker]

Ya, Brilliant! Let's improve the image of Toronto on the world stage by picketing in front of Ford's private residence. That'll be quite a sight. Protesters outside his home with signs calling him a crack-head while his kids are out front waiting for the bus. That's the kind of image you want to put forward?

So much concern raised about the optics of any protest, so little raised about the optics of the mayor's antics. The reality is that no matter what happens, Ford's allies will call foul, and eschewing confrontation to avoid riling them is like giving in to a temper tantrum.

Ford staying in office for another 14 months will have little effect on this city it's proper functioning or our international reputation. If the media starts ignoring him, he will go away. He is a polarizing force in this city and constant efforts to remove him from office has, unbelievably, had little effect on his support. Keep on it and you turn him into the plucky underdog fighting against a biased media and politically organized left.

Proper functioning of a city includes building a vision for the future and working towards consensus between parties. Like a CEO in a corporation, a mayor's contribution to a city involves vision and direction. If the mayor has lost all professional and personal credibility, and alienated a majority of his or her elected colleagues, how the heck can he/she do their job? And without vision or direction, the city falls behind, projects are delayed, decisions left unmade.

By the way, any troubled politician can and does play the "biased media" and organized political opponents card. If that card game stopped everything, Nixon would have served two full terms, Pamela Wallin would be lounging in the back of a town car, and Mike Duffy would still be double-dipping.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

I used the provincial Liberal's as an example because I am surprised at the lack of outrage at that scandal. I can't think of anything comparable done by the Federal conservatives that would warrant protests on the street. If you have something they have done worth protesting, go for it. It's likely worse than one man's personal addiction problems.

It's hard to get mad at a scandal that would have happened no matter who won the election. All three parties said they would cancel those plants. Not that people shouldn't be outraged at the cover up, we should, but all three were going to do it.

And I'm sorry but lying to the public about paying off/bribing/threatening sitting senators is definitely worth protesting. OR using omnibus budget bills to take away labour rights, the rights of CBC employees and to change long standing rules about the appointment of Supreme Court Justices also deserves protesting. Not to mention the fact that they are preventing the media from fairly reporting on what's going on, trying to keep Canadians in the dark and acting like the press is the enemy when they are the only way we are getting any information. There is a litany of other things I could mention. If you can't think of anything the CPC have done to deserve being protested, then you haven't been paying attention.

 

[zang]

Protesting at his personal residence should be off limits. You want to hurt his children? don't put the blame on him. Your actions are intended to shame an individual without regard to innocent children. Nice...I don't have a lot of respect for your position.

His children were hurt the day he decided disobeying law and disrespecting the city were a good idea. He has shown little respect for much of anything, yet asks for respect back? It's not like people would be storming his house, but protesting outside of it. He has continually used his family as a shield and this is just another example.

 

[inyyz]

The Rob Ford story on San Jose local news station CBS, 7 minutes into the 6 p.m. broadcast. We are a laughing stock.

 

[newearthling]

Pots and pans at NFS on Saturday?

What's a good substitute for red squares?

Hands would be a good symbol. Toronto has held out a helping hand to everyone who has landed here.
A hand can can also be destructive by holding a crack pipe or a vodka bottle.
But we need to focus on a positive vision of Toronto and where we are going (rather than where we have been.)

http://sweetclipart.com/red-hand-print-972

 

[salsa]

I'm sorry but lying to the public about paying off/bribing/threatening sitting senators is definitely worth protesting. OR using omnibus budget bills to take away labour rights, the rights of CBC employees and to change long standing rules about the appointment of Supreme Court Justices also deserves protesting. Not to mention the fact that they are preventing the media from fairly reporting on what's going on, trying to keep Canadians in the dark and acting like the press is the enemy when they are the only way we are getting any information. There is a litany of other things I could mention.

And also the muzzling of scientists.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

And also the muzzling of scientists.

Since this is the Rob Ford Forum I'm going to refrain from really continuing this conversation. But yes, I left that one out, as well as muzzling of librarians, telling his MP's to not cooperate with Elections Canada in their investigation, telling people not to cooperate with the RCMP with their investigation, willfully obstructing justice, as well as being the first PM to ever be found in contempt of Parliament. Spending millions on ads even some on programs that don't exist yet while cutting things like the busiest coast guard station in Canada. Their treatment of First Nations. The G20 and 50 million dollar gazebos. Oh and losing 3.1 billion dollars! I mean come on. There is no shortage of reasons to protest Harper and his cronies. None.

And if someone wants to argue that Harper had nothing to do with the Senate thing than I ask you two things: 1) How could he possibly be the biggest control freak to the point of telling civil servants to refer to the Government of Canada as the "Harper Government" and have no clue what his PMO was doing and 2) Is not knowing what your own office is doing really a defence? That makes him inept.

To get this all back on topic: Conservatives are NOT fiscally responsible, they don't have "records" to run on. Harper took a surplus and turned it into a massive deficit. Under Ford the surplus is less than it was under Miller and taxes have gone up. Not to mention their lack of respect for human rights, and the Law obviously since so many of them are currently under investigation by the police. As I said earlier in this thread, Ford is a symptom of a much larger problem.

 

[dforthandbview]

There are a bunch of Toronto bands who have tweeted about being upset about all of this. Broken Social Scene, Hollorado, Danko Jones. Also celebrities: Sarah Polley for example (even approaching Olivia Chow and Bob Rae would draw a crowd). I think if it was well enough organized you could get some "big" names there and that would bring out the crowd.

A big protest would be good but I don't think it should come across as being a left wing protest. Olivia Chow being there would definitely do that. It shouldn't be a left vs. right thing. It should be a citizens of Toronto encompassing all political spectra protest. If prominent people from the right made appearances then that would certainly send a message.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

Andrew Coyne maybe? I can't think of any Conservative politicians that have come out against him unfortunately. For a good rally an invite should go out to politicians of all stripes, it will be up to them to decide whether or not to come.

 

[kevinsp8]

>Protesting at his personal residence should be off limits. You want to hurt his children? don't put the blame on him. Your actions are intended to shame an individual without regard to innocent children. Nice...I don't have a lot of respect for your position.

I said it was just a brainstorming idea and then agreed it probably wouldn't work (I wouldn't be able to get out that far).

But you insist on keep bringing it up. Playing the "won't someone please think of the children" card. Nice.

If you want to talk about children, let's talk about Rob's lack of support for at-risk youth programs: http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/311819/rob-ford-views-on-social-programs/

Let's talk about what children he puts at risk by (allegedly) drinking and driving, reading while driving, talking on his cell phone while driving.

Let's talk about how he urinated in public near a school, if the ITO is to be believed.

Let's talk about how he and Lisi made a mysterious exchange at a children's soccer game.

And let's talk about what kind of message ALL his behaviors affect children.. A mayor should be a role model. Schools banned him from coaching football, what does that tell you?

A few kids seeing democracy in action ain't gonna harm them. Ford shouldn't have gone into politics if he was terrified his kids would hear someone say a negative word about him.

 

[MetroMan]

Didn't you MM mention a 'de-fund' option? Someone mentioned it earlier. Council apparently discussed this in the summer?

The defunding option isn't getting any traction. Most councillors don't seem to think it'll accomplish anything. They're mostly right, it's a symbolic measure. The Mayor would still show up to Council and would still run his mouth in the media. I think the most effective action would be for the entire executive committee to resign. That would take away his most significant power as Mayor and send a strong message that he doesn't have the confidence of City Council.

At best, I can see a motion to formally censure the Mayor so it's on record. But they really can't do anything to force him to resign.

 

[Michael62]

easiest way is to continually tweet @TOMayorFord the word "RESIGN" then retweet anyone else who does the same, it would overload the system quite quickly, and remember the 6 degrees of separation creating a flood of tweets. It could trend worldwide if done correctly