{"id":19257,"date":"2014-07-17T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T03:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=19257"},"modified":"2014-07-16T21:02:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:02:25","slug":"chorus-of-competing-cheers-and-jeers-for-rob-ford-in-toronto-mayoral-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/07\/17\/chorus-of-competing-cheers-and-jeers-for-rob-ford-in-toronto-mayoral-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Chorus of competing cheers and jeers for Rob Ford in Toronto mayoral debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mayor<\/a>
Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto. Photo courtesy of Ford’s Facebook page.rob\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014Rob Ford was both cheered and jeered as he took part Tuesday night in his first mayoral debate since returning to office after a two-month stint in rehab.<\/p>\n

The controversial mayor of Toronto, who recently got help for substance abuse issues, arrived to duelling groups of demonstrators\u2014one calling for his resignation, the other calling for him to have a second term in office.<\/p>\n

Those competing voices were heard every time the mayor spoke through the night, as the crowd taking in the debate voiced both support and antipathy for Ford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have proven in the last 14 years in government that I\u2019ve watched every single one of your tax dollars,\u201d said the mayor to a chorus of cheers and boos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have created jobs, I have worked with youth, nobody\u2019s worked with youth closer than I have…folks, my record speaks for itself. It\u2019s a record of success, success, success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since returning from rehab, the mayor of Canada\u2019s largest city has said he can\u2019t guarantee he won\u2019t relapse, but has asked supporters to trust him as he runs for another term.<\/p>\n

Ford has also insisted that campaigning for the Oct. 27 municipal election won\u2019t compromise his recovery.<\/p>\n

Despite Ford\u2019s backtracking on his assurances in the past, a significant portion of the crowd gathered for the debate in east-end Toronto appeared prepared to put their faith in him once more.<\/p>\n

Sporting \u201cFord Nation\u201d T-shirts, pins and flags, they heckled Ford\u2019s political opponents and yelled out their support whenever the mayor spoke on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the only one that makes sense,\u201d said Bill Parkin, who called for \u201cFord more years.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s the only mayor that\u2019s done anything good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were many, however, who didn\u2019t feel that way.<\/p>\n

Anti-Ford demonstrator John Furr, who got into a verbal confrontation with Parkin prior to the debate, said it was time for Ford to leave public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemaining in office is an insult to average Torontonians. If he really wants to show us that he wants to earn our trust, he should be resigning,\u201d said Furr.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor\u2019s problems, by and large, are not related to addiction. They\u2019re related to his contempt, they\u2019re related to his racism, to his homophobia, they\u2019re related to his toxic environment that he\u2019s created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford recently raised eyebrows when he remained seated while city council gave a standing ovation to organizers of Toronto\u2019s World Pride festival.<\/p>\n

He did not answer questions from reporters outside his office about why he didn\u2019t stand along with fellow councillors, but said he\u2019s not homophobic.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s role as mayor has been largely symbolic since November, when city council stripped him of most of his power following his admissions of alcohol abuse and drug use during \u201cdrunken stupors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those admissions came after months of denials and were followed by the surfacing of videos which appeared to show the mayor making offensive and profane comments.<\/p>\n

The mayor has apologized to those hurt by his words and actions, saying he regretted some of his past choices but said he blamed no one but himself for his misconduct.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, he returned time and again to what he portrayed as his stellar record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho do you trust?\u201d he asked the rowdy crowd in which one person yelled she loved the mayor while another woman told him to \u201cgo back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a proven record, I\u2019ve listed it numerous times. I said I was going to save money…I\u2019ve saved the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory attacked Ford on his record, saying the mayor wasn\u2019t being up front about all he has achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what you were doing and it wasn\u2019t managing the taxpayers money,\u201d he told Ford.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a laughing stock. People all over the world know who Rob Ford is, but they know it in a bad way,\u201d Tory went on to tell reporters after the debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reflects badly on our city…He should have been spending time talking to companies around the world saying we need you to come invest in our city and instead he\u2019s done nothing of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former NDP MP Olivia Chow also took the opportunity to chastise Ford in public, but she was nearly drowned out by his vocal supporters in the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Rob Ford came back, we\u2019ve seen the best and the worst of our city,\u201d she said to a mix of applause and jeers. \u201cRob Ford isn\u2019t going to resign, so join me in firing him.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ford\u2019s opponents didn\u2019t delve deeply into his personal issues during the debate, Chow made it clear she felt the mayor\u2019s time is up.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when Mr. Ford is clean and sober, his policy has failed the people of Toronto. And he is still not telling the truth,\u201d she said after the debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to pack up his circus and leave town…He\u2019s a terrible role model for our children and I\u2019ve said that he has failed as our mayor. I\u2019ve said that very clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

City councillor Karen Stintz and David Soknacki, a former city budget chief, are also among those vying to replace Ford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014Rob Ford was both cheered and jeered as he took part Tuesday night in his first mayoral debate since returning …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":15661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-headline","mauthors-diana-mehta","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}