John_Dee
Active Member
It was probably part political. Ford's a Con and Blair's a lefty, and I don't think it's been written about but Ford was pushing to oust Blair from early on in his term but buying out his contract proved to be too expensive. Also, there's an element of "not in my city". Blair was embarrassed that the mayor was being so brazen on his watch.
Characterizing Blair as an out-and-out leftie is almost certainly overstating things, IMO. He may be somewhat socially liberal (especially for a cop), but I'd say he falls squarely onto the middle of the road/centrist side of the political spectrum, which is where most of our supposedly 'reasonable,' 'respectable' politcos tend to hang their hats nowadays. Much in the way that, say, Kathleen Wynne is willing to work with someone like John Tory as opposed to the likes of the Ford brothers.
Mind you, it's part and parcel of the Fords' shtick that they're unwilling to work with "commies," which is to say anyone who's not a social Neanderthal. That's what their fanboys love about them, whether due to being reactionaries themselves, or just angry & pissed off at business as usual. See Donald Trump for a more recent example. Then again - and as we've been discussing here lately - it's not like the Fords wouldn't pivot on a dime if they saw any profit in doing so. It's not like they have any true political principles. Really, their only genuine ideology is self-promotion. Again, just like Trump.
But yeah, there was definitely something not right with the ridiculous mess that constituted that entire investigation of Ford. God knows what was really going on behind the scenes.