The creators behind the Netflix documentary film series Trainwreck evidently have a keen interest in covering the most bizarre and unexpected mess-ups in the history of mankind, and this time their focus is on a political scandal of an unprecedented nature. A supposed nobody with zero chances of entering any serious government office, Rob Ford was elected as the mayor of Toronto in 2010, much to the delight and surprise of the citizens of Canada’s largest city by population. But what followed was simply shocking and shameful, as Rob Ford experienced a fall from grace like no other politician in recent history. While Mayor of Mayhem does a solid job of covering perhaps the most serious allegations against the mayor, its short duration of 49 minutes also means that a lot is left out and seemingly overlooked.
Who was Rob Ford?
Born in 1969, Rob Ford was the youngest son of Ontario-based businessman Douglas Bruce Ford, who was a well known and beloved figure in his community. Doug Ford had started his Deco Labels & Tags business in 1962, and the company became a household name for printing requirements in his neighborhood. Doug had then entered the world of politics as well, as he joined the Progressive Conservative Party in Ontario and even became a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in 1995. According to those close to the Ford family, the youngest son, Rob, always wanted to be a professional football player from his high school days in order to follow in the footsteps of his father, who had been an important part of his college football team as well.
However, Rob was neither physically built for the sport, nor did he possess any of the skills or the tactical prowess to pursue the sport. The few chances that he got while in high school and college had arguably all been arranged for by his father’s funding. Although he left for Ottawa to pursue a degree in political science from Carleton University, Rob did not complete the academic course and returned home after only a year. He was then given the opportunity, by his father, to work in the family business, which the young man did take up, but it was evident to both him and Doug that Rob simply had no aptitude for business.
By this time, it was almost like Rob feared that he was letting down his father on all fronts, despite having genuinely wanted to follow in the man’s footsteps and make him proud. Therefore, there was just the one avenue for Rob to go down in order to impress his old man, and that was to become a politician. At the turn of the century, in 2000, he decided to give politics a serious go, apparently with a genuine interest to serve the people of his neighborhood, and he won the election to become the city councilor for Ward 2 of Etobicoke, the very neighborhood he hailed from. It was a fairly straightforward journey from then on, at least for some time, as he represented the same ward as councilor till 2010, and he also became quite a notorious character during this time.
Rob was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party as well, like his father, and he was clearly much more strong-willed in politics than Doug as well, as would be proven a few years later. Being a conservative with openly traditional thoughts and beliefs, Rob’s decisions and remarks were often criticized and ridiculed by left-liberals, but to people who had the same beliefs as him, the councilor was gradually becoming a heroic figure who did not shy away from speaking the truth and from taking difficult but important decisions. Thus, it seemed kind of obvious that Rob would advance further in the world of politics, solely because of his support and also the genuine dedication that he showed in office, and his career took a serious turn in 2010.
How did Rob Ford become the mayor of Toronto?
2010 turned out to be a difficult year for the citizens of Toronto when a terribly long garbage workers’ strike hit the city right during the middle of summer, meaning that there were suddenly heaps of garbage lying all around, rotting and melting in the heat to give off a horrific stench. While the stench was revolting to humans, it did attract hordes of raccoons living in the area, and the wild animals rushed in for a feast even during the day. With the garbage workers protesting against the city council for various reasons, there seemed no end to the nasty situation, and it caused a massive stir in the city administration as well. David Miller, the mayor of Toronto at the time, announced in a shocking move that he was stepping down from the position and would no longer run in the mayoral election later that year.
This immediately opened up a big opportunity for other politicians to step in and seize the position, and Rob Ford happened to be one of the hopefuls. Although he did not initially believe that becoming the mayor of Toronto was an achievable feat for him, Rob was supported by his friends and aides in coming up with a campaign that would make his win seem possible. Unlike most other politicians, Rob Ford operated almost like a salesman or a handyman, meaning that he would give his card to everyone he met on the streets of the city and tell them to give him a call whenever they needed. There was definitely a feeling of a personal touch to this sort of campaign, as it made voters feel that the politician was truly trying to help them out.
Rob’s claims were not empty promises either, as people did often call him up for help regarding matters that would be considered too ordinary by most politicians, and he would indeed show up for assistance. One time, someone called him and asked for help regarding a dying tree in the backyard, and Ford showed up with a solution. Another time, as Rob’s brother, Doug Jr., would go on to reveal many years later, he helped a pizzeria deliver pizzas late at night as the original delivery driver was busy. His stance of directly reaching out to tackle the problems of the citizens made him appear like a true people’s man, and it worked in his favor during his mayoral election campaign.
His camp still needed some publicity, and this aptly came when a group of his followers, calling themselves the Ford Nation, decided to rally to the town hall but by taking a street on which a morning news program is shot. As a result, the rally was seen walking by on the street in the background of the news show, and the journalists even stopped their reportage to say hi to the people in the rally. This provided the massive publicity boost that the campaign required, that too at no cost at all, and things seemed set for the politician. Despite Rob Ford still having doubts on the day of the results, he was ultimately elected the new mayor with 47% of the votes.
Why was the politician already a controversial figure?
Although Rob Ford had just become the new mayor of Toronto, there was no shortage of controversy against the man already, most notably because of his uncurbed statements about opposition members and left-liberal ideology, and also because of his alleged problems with alcoholism. During the mayoral campaign, certain news from 1999 came to light about Rob having been arrested for driving under the influence and possessing marijuana. When cornered about the matter by the media later in his political career, Rob initially denied anything of this sort had taken place and then changed his stance about the severity of the incident, stating it was nothing serious. Eventually, he had to change his stance once more and be apologetic about the news, which was very much true, and he openly stated that he had committed a mistake during the time, for which he only feels guilty and shameful.
This was, unfortunately, not the only controversial allegation against the man, though, as an incident from 2006 also surfaced in which he had caused a ruckus at the Air Canada Centre stadium. A massive fan of ice hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs team, Rob had gone to watch a hockey game when he had a terrible argument with a couple near his seat, which led to him threatening them. As it turns out, the councilor, as he was at the time, was heavily drunk when he had come to the stadium and had been swearing and cussing a lot from his seat. This made the couple, along with everyone else around Rob’s seat, feel disturbed and uncomfortable, and the couple eventually spoke up against him and asked him to stop. This had enraged the drunk Rob even more, and he then threatened to take action against them.
When he was questioned about this incident some time later, the councilor initially denied it ever happened and tried to laugh it off as a false claim. But once again, when he realized that his back was up against the wall, he changed his stance and apologized for the ‘mistake’ that he had made. After Rob Ford went on to become the mayor, an official charge of misuse of funds was also brought against him, which took him to court for the first time. Despite having failed to make it into football, he remained a loyal fan of the sport and even started to coach his high school team. In fact, he was so dedicated to coaching that he would sometimes abandon his duties as the councilor and then also the mayor on important days to go and coach his football team. Certain documents revealed later stated how Rob had tried to get hold of funds as a councilor to fund his football team.
What was the most horrific allegation against Ford?
While the court initially ruled against Ford, and his removal from the post of mayor seemed imminent, he challenged the ruling, and his team of lawyers was able to overturn the court’s decision, following which he was acquitted of all charges. But the most horrific of allegations against him was yet to be made public. Robyn Doolittle, an investigative journalist who appears in Mayor of Mayhem, reveals that she first got a lead from a suspect who claimed to have a video of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine from a glass pipe. Although she went and actually saw the video, there was no way for her to write about the incident at the time, since the lead wanted money for the video, and Canadian media at the time did not pay money for story leads.
But the matter was made public a few weeks later by an American news media outlet, which had clearly paid the fee for the video, and this allowed Robyn to write a similar article for the Toronto Star newspaper. The allegations of the mayor being a crack cocaine addict immediately became breaking news all over Canada, and Rob obviously reacted in the manner that he was most used to. He called the news fake and fabricated to malign his image and remove him from power. Like every other time, he added that it was all part of left-liberal propaganda to get him evicted from the mayor’s office. In a public press conference, he denied that he ever misused drugs, but to people close to him, he only stated that there was surely no video to incriminate him, which clearly suggested that the incident actually did happen.
Could the allegations against Rob Ford be proven?
Although Rob’s initial public statement worked in his favor, as people refused to believe the claims made by the American and Canadian media, things became difficult soon, as the police chief of Toronto addressed the media and stated that they had indeed secured a video that showed the mayor smoking crack. The police had planned and executed a massive raid on a drug gang operating in the city following a horrific murder, and it was during this raid that they found the video that clearly showed Rob Ford smoking crack from a crystal pipe. The implication was horrific, as it not only confirmed that Ford was a cocaine addict, but the video also suggested that he was closely linked to the drug gang itself.
Denying the claims once more, Rob openly asked for the video to be released in public, questioning its existence at all. But when he started to realize that the winds had turned against him, he took a different stance during a press conference and stated that although he had taken crack cocaine during a difficult stage of his life after his father had passed away, there was no chance that he was an addict. Perhaps this was his attempt to make it seem like the video was an old one, if it was ever made public, but his lies finally stopped working. The Toronto police released the video two days later, and another video of the mayor smoking crack and showing extremely violent tendencies under the influence of the drug was also revealed some time later.
What ultimately happened to Rob Ford?
Despite the clear proof against him, Rob decided to fight the authorities by claiming that he was now a changed man and there were no legal grounds to remove him from the seat of mayor. The city council came up with a plan to temporarily twist the laws and strip the mayor of all significant powers to ensure that a cocaine addict was not taking decisions for the citizens. But instead of stepping away in shame after being caught, Rob Ford actually decided to run for the mayoral election once again, just 5 months later, and he even managed to get quite some supporters who felt that he deserved another chance.
But the whole situation took a very dark turn when Rob suddenly fell sick one fine day during the 2014 mayoral election campaign, and he was soon diagnosed with abdominal cancer. He naturally had to step away from the election, and his elder brother, Doug Ford Jr., took over in his place and eventually lost in the vote. While continuing to receive rehab and treatment for his addiction and the cancer, Rob was reelected as the councilor of Ward 2 of Etobicoke a couple of times, but it seemed like his followers just wanted to honor him at this time. Ultimately, Rob Ford passed away from cancer in 2016, bringing an end to a shocking and shameful chapter of Canadian politics.
