news
Rob Ford Finally Comes Out, Announces He’s Running for Mayor
Photo by Miles Storey/Torontoist.
Well, he’s gone and done it. Thrifty belligerent councillor Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) has stopped batting his eyelashes at the press and gone public with his intention to run for mayor.
Ford met with supporters this morning for a coffee and a pep talk before a muffin-fuelled triumphal march to his AM640 radio show where he finally said, yep, he thought Toronto was ready for a Ford mayoralty and he was just the Ford to provide it (quote invented).
That said, the announcement wasn’t an enormous surprise. Ford is known for his bombastic diatribes against overspending and shoot-from-the-hip commentaries on everything from AIDS to bike lanes and more, and internalizing his thought process has never been his strong suit. He’s been musing publicly about a run—and building a campaign team—for weeks.
Ford, who characterizes himself on his Facebook page as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” said on the radio that after almost eight years of David Miller, he felt an obligation to run for the city’s highest office, noting that “the city is filthy dirty, there’s graffitti everywhere, there are empty stores, windows are smashed.” Needless to say, all these are situations that he proposes to rectify while simultaneously conserving taxpayer dollars.
For those interested in hearing more, Ford is holding a wine and cheese party tomorrow, March 26, at the Toronto Congress Centre to celebrate his ten years on council and his mayoral campaign
Councillors, hide your cab chits. This race just got interesting.