Even in death Rob Ford remains Toronto’s ‘Mayor for Life’

Even death cannot deprive thousands of mournful citizens of the most beloved mayor in Toronto history, Mayor Rob Ford, guaranteed immortality in the Ford Nation movement. Respected as a ‘Man of the People’ long before ever becoming mayor for his admirable penny-pinching ways as a city councillor, Rob Ford was what every politician should be but isn’t, a vanguard of the public purse.

The same detractors who harassed and hounded him mercilessly during his lifetime, the media and elected politicians, were the same ones who sat in the front rows of his funeral service yesterday. Yet, Rob Ford’s own funeral has to be one of the most memorable vignettes in ‘The Life & Times of Rob Ford’ with the cruel harassers being so vastly outnumbered by all those who loved him. Sad but true to say that there were many who wished him dead long before Toronto ‘Mayor for Life’ Rob Ford died on March 22 of malignant liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer, age 46. Thousands of Torontonians who loved him in spite of his human failings swelled outside of the usually empty City Hall before his funeral cortège began making its sad way to St. James Cathedral, the spine-tingling wails of the Police Band Bagpipes marking the beginning of one of the longest processions to ever make its way through downtown Toronto streets.

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The huge turnout proved that the politicians and media who hounded him during his entire political career could never stop the love of the masses for Rob Ford. Only protocol and their own hypocrisy allowed the same media members and politicians who went out of their way to stab him in the back to be among the thousands of citizen mourners. Only love and respect for Rob Ford had the crowd chanting “mayor for life” and “Ford Nation rules the Nation” as mourners filed outside and inside the cathedral. No one paid the least bit of attention to the politicians attending the service, not even MP and former Councillor Adam Vaughan, who as Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy pointed out “shamelessly plunked himself in the front row of the Cathredal Church of St. James in direct sight of the TV cameras and the entire Ford family.” Vaughan’s plunking down in the front row only underlined the absenteeism of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Maybe it's a good thing these hater freaks had the gall to show up at Rob's funeral. They got to see for themselves what will never, ever happen when they meet the end of their road. And they were forced to witness the final result in their War on Ford. In the words of Joe Warmington: Rob won, they lost. He's the Mayor of Heaven now; the love for him down here in T.O. has only grown; and the principles he stood for are never going to be forgotten again at election time.” (I hate the war on Mayor Rob Ford, March 30, 2016) There was not a dry eye in the cathedral when Rob’s daughter, Stephenie, stepped up to the pulpit surrounded by her mother, Renata and brother, Dougie to eulogize her father in a moving tribute.

“I remember at the hospital, he smiled at me and he said, ‘Stephanie, I might not be here for too much longer,” 10-year-old Stephanie told the crowd of roughly 650 inside the church and the hundreds watching on screens outside. “He said, ‘I want you to remember that I’ll always love you. I need you and your brother to be strong for your mom.’ “I know my dad is in a better place now — and he’s the mayor of heaven now.”

The throngs had come to say farewell to someone they would always call “Mayor Ford” even though cancer forced him out of the 2014 mayoralty race--to the open delight of some media and politicians.

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Rob’s much loved brother, Doug moved many to tears when he said with a shaking voice at the end of a brief eulogy, “Rob, I’m gonna miss you like crazy.” “I love you more than anything in the world. And don’t worry, Ford Nation will continue.” And Doug could not possibly have been more spot-on. Other mayors, who always put politics before the people, routinely just come and go, but Rob Ford leaves a proud and lasting legacy behind. As the first conservative mayor of a long lib-left controlled Toronto, he cut straight through public apathy and returned the city to citizens who prize love of T.O. ahead of all else. Here at Canada Free Press, Arthur Weinreb, and myself, who covered him back in the days when he was a first-time councillor, were a small part of the oh so very many who loved Rob Ford. Rob’s hounding and harassment by the relentless politicians and mainstream media are over and, at long last, he is at rest from all his cruel tormentors. But thousands of Torontonians returned to their homes after yesterday’s moving service knowing at heart, it’s “Neil Flagg and Ford Nation forever!”