A week ago, the sitting Toronto city councillor and former mayor succumbed to the cancer he had been suffering from for a year and a half. He was 46.
Almost immediately, online petitions were started wanting to name Centennial Park or the Etobicoke Civic Centre or a subway station after the late mayor. The fact these petitions were launched before the body was cold was totally inappropriate; there will be time in the future to discuss and debate naming something or other after the late mayor. The family, out of respect should be consulted on such matters but more than that, the Ford family has been good to Torontonians. One example was throwing parties known as "Ford Fest" where all people, even the haters, were welcome to attend. The family gave a lot to the community and should be allowed to grieve without seeing proposed sites that should be named after the late mayor.
Within an hour of Ford's death being announced, councillor and former deputy mayor Norm Kelly appeared on Newstalk1010. Kelly was Ford's deputy mayor and the man who assumed the powers of the mayor (at least when he was not in Florida) that city council took away from Ford during the heart of the crack scandal. Kelly was asked if he thought something would be named after Ford and he replied, "An era." Whether he meant that in a positive or negative way, Kelly was right. Years from now, the years 2010 to 2014 will be known as the "Rob Ford era," something that like the former mayor, has passed.
No one can possibly argue Ford was not a true fiscal conservative. Not only did he understand but was concerned with the fact governments do not have money. The money they have comes from what they can confiscate from people. And while "tax the rich" is trendy these days, it is the ordinary resident of Toronto who is hit the hardest. Without Ford, conservatism is dead in Toronto as it is in Ontario, Canada and even the United States.
Current mayor John Tory, a former leader of the Ontario Progressive Party, is often referred to as a "liberal" although he more resembles what passes for conservatism these days; spending the taxpayers' money on pet projects and increasing property taxes without any regard to Torontonians, especially those on fixed incomes. Being conservative now means spending a teeny tiny bit less money than a progressive would.
And Patrick Brown, leader of the Ontario PC Party, recently announced one of his priorities was to fight climate change. So if he becomes premier, Ontarians would end up paying a kinder, gentler carbon tax than we will under the current liberal government.
Ford cared about all this and its effect on taxpayers. After first elected councillor in 2000, Ford railed about the city paying $70,000 a year to have plants watered at city hall. Ford couldn't understand why employees could not water their own plants. He was laughed at by the elites because the $70,000 is an insignificant amount in the budget of Canada's largest city. He was a true fiscal conservative and it will be a long time, if ever, before we see anyone else like him in a position of power.
A hallmark of being a conservative is the desire to have a smaller (and therefore cheaper) government. Ford could never understand why defined geographic areas in Toronto have one federal MP and one provincial MPP yet needed two city councillors. If he could have had his way, he would have reduced city council in half.
Ford knew the number of sitting councillors could not be cut. Although it is the province that has the power to do so, the Ontario government would require city council to pass a resolution and there is no way the city mothers would ever vote to remove half their number from feeding at the trough.
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Who else in power actually wants to shrink the size of government? Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president is no conservative and he is no more likely to shrink the size of a government he runs than he is to build a series of 10-unit "Trump Motels."
There is no doubt no one cares about the financial well-being of ordinary hard-working people like Robert Bruce Ford did. His years in power will be known as the "Rob Ford Era" and it is difficult to imagine we will ever see a politician like him again.
A week ago, the sitting Toronto city councillor and former mayor succumbed to the cancer he had been suffering from for a year and a half. He was 46.
Almost immediately, online petitions were started wanting to name Centennial Park or the Etobicoke Civic Centre or a subway station after the late mayor. The fact these petitions were launched before the body was cold was totally inappropriate; there will be time in the future to discuss and debate naming something or other after the late mayor. The family, out of respect should be consulted on such matters but more than that, the Ford family has been good to Torontonians. One example was throwing parties known as "Ford Fest" where all people, even the haters, were welcome to attend. The family gave a lot to the community and should be allowed to grieve without seeing proposed sites that should be named after the late mayor.
