Rob Ford's Toronto

[dforthandbview]

Do you have a source for that? I had thought that the Fords said they paid their own way but I could easily be misremembering. And if it is the case, wouldn't this be an example of exactly the sort of gift that people like politicians should not accept, to avoid giving even a perception of bias? (If it's not against the rules ... well, it really, really should be.)

I don't think it was confirmed but there was this article: http://www.thegridto.com/blog-post/mayors-office-businesses-paid-to-take-us-to-chicago-um/

 

[TRA]

So any other clues that Rob has been in conversation with TPS or OPP?

 

[whatthe]

So any other clues that Rob has been in conversation with TPS or OPP?

Rob certainly hasn't been. Whether or not his lawyer has been is another question.

 

[basic]

Rob certainly hasn't been. Whether or not his lawyer has been is another question.

Agreed. I hope my gut feeling about today pans out. The airport vote is out of the way and so I'm hoping the call can be made.

Put me on the list of the extremely disappointed if Friday comes and goes with no arrest.

 

[sno man]

So, no indication of who Rethink's client was?

Short answer is "nofordnation.com" who that is is a little tougher question. Rethink says they donated their effort to the cause, and there is a Tweet or two that might suggest some of the players, at least Twitter handle wise. Find them and check who follows them for a better picture.

 

[VTB]

Also, according to the current plan, council has another opportunity to approve or cancel the expansion in a year. Poster's ownership will be public knowledge then and councillors can make their decision with that knowledge. There is no need to bind them to a particular position caused by some hypothetical future change of ownership.

IIRC, Porter tried to do an IPO back in 2012 or 2013. The plan was shelved at the last minute. My guess is the numbers were not good enough for potential investors. IOW, they were losing money and the future was not bright. My other guess is they are trying to leverage their airport infrastructure to use the jets to fly to more distant destinations and to tap the holiday flights.

I don't know that they plan to divulge their ownership structure unless there is an IPO happening.

 

[zang]

Short answer is "nofordnation.com" who that is is a little tougher question. Rethink says they donated their effort to the cause, and there is a Tweet or two that might suggest some of the players, at least Twitter handle wise. Find them and check who follows them for a better picture.

Cristina Robins and her husband. It's not like it's hidden information. Some of the articles about the signs even interviewed her.

http://o.canada.com/news/fake-toronto-mayoral-candidates-419813/

 

[Cooper]

Agreed. I hope my gut feeling about today pans out. The airport vote is out of the way and so I'm hoping the call can be made.

Put me on the list of the extremely disappointed if Friday comes and goes with no arrest.

I don't understand the connection to the airport vote. Why is that important? Seems to me the cops will make an arrest if/when they have the evidence they need, no?

 

[tariqata]

I don't think it was confirmed but there was this article: http://www.thegridto.com/blog-post/mayors-office-businesses-paid-to-take-us-to-chicago-um/

Ah, okay, thanks - I do remember that. I was imagining Deluce/Porter directly reimbursing Rob Ford for the trip, which would (I hope) have been too crazy even for him to get away with. Although I still agree with Keenan that if the city thinks there's value in sending the mayor, councillors or city staff on a trip like this, the city ought to be paying for their travel.

 

[newearthling]

This guy goes through the Galloway interview.
[video=youtube;b4qMEOc9VfQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4qMEOc9VfQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]

It is interesting to note that just 3 days feels like an eternity. That interview was on Friday but feels like a long time ago. And to analyse it 3 days after the fact seems...late to the party. But interesting observations none the less.

 

[sno man]

I don't understand the connection to the airport vote. Why is that important? Seems to me the cops will make an arrest if/when they have the evidence they need, no?

based on MM's tweets from the weekend, the only hold-up was political. The OPP has a new comish, since then, that may have been it, the only other 'big' political thing in play was the Billy Bishop vote with TO council, both are now done. Food trucks aren't a big enough deal, the only other outstanding thing, and I'm probably giving it more credit than it deserves at this point, is the request to the Province to look at and introduce a recall option so the whole RoFo thing can be excised with prejudice next time it comes up.

 

[LowPolygon]

Interesting background - thanks!

I don't want to knock the people who did them, because I enjoyed them and I'm clearly not the only one. However, given a decent stock photo and twenty minutes, I'm pretty sure I could come up with something comparable. I could also get them printed out at TPH or Staples for the price of a round of drinks, and building the frame need take more than 15 minutes and some scrap timber.

Like I said though, good work by the people responsible.

The fake sign campaign took a lot more than a 'stock photo' and a lot longer than 20 minutes to materialize. For one thing, that's not stock photography. Secondly, they were professionally designed. I don't know why you would seek to minimize the effort by saying you are "pretty sure" you could do something comparable? And as far as the price of 'a round of drinks', that would allow you to pay for ONE poster sized print. However the campaign consisted of uh, more than one sign. In all likelihood the total cost to the creators was somewhere in the range of 2-3K.

 

[Grimace]

IIRC, Porter tried to do an IPO back in 2012 or 2013. The plan was shelved at the last minute. My guess is the numbers were not good enough for potential investors. IOW, they were losing money and the future was not bright. My other guess is they are trying to leverage their airport infrastructure to use the jets to fly to more distant destinations and to tap the holiday flights.

I don't know that they plan to divulge their ownership structure unless there is an IPO happening.

Porter IPO was 2010. Your guess is correct. Ownership structure was set out then, which is public and online, unless it has changed.

 

[Cooper]

based on MM's tweets from the weekend, the only hold-up was political. The OPP has a new comish, since then, that may have been it, the only other 'big' political thing in play was the Billy Bishop vote with TO council, both are now done. Food trucks aren't a big enough deal, the only other outstanding thing, and I'm probably giving it more credit than it deserves at this point, is the request to the Province to look at and introduce a recall option so the whole RoFo thing can be excised with prejudice next time it comes up.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Sweet Mister]

Moreover, Flaherty is out of the building and other folks have been given time to take cover.

I dunno if Rob really hurt his back but when I blew a disc it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I probably looked like he did. So anyone it happens to has my sympathy.

But I do suspect he was given a final chance to turn himself in voluntarily this morning for questioning.