Harper’s gone, why not the Ford boys?: Hepburn

Pity poor John Tory, who this week should be celebrating the first anniversary of his election as mayor of Toronto.

Since defeating his main rivals Doug Ford and Olivia Chow last Oct. 27, Tory has done an admirable job in restoring civility and normalcy to city hall.

Ever upbeat, Tory is hugely popular as he starts the second year of his four-year term and he says he is going to run for re-election in 2018.

However, given Toronto politics, Tory still gets plenty of grief — and he’s about to face a whole lot more over the next three years.

Did I mention Rob Ford?

You remember Ford, our former mayor and now city councillor, star of late-night American TV comedy talk shows. Think Donald Trump, but without Trump’s refinement or class.

Throughout his four years as mayor, Ford was as an international embarrassment — a drunk, a crack-smoking mayor who hung out with gang members, the subject of police probes, the cause of a council mutiny, a foul-mouthed bully, you name it.

Ford didn’t run for re-election as mayor in 2014 because of a serious bout of cancer that required chemotherapy and an operation.

Thankfully, he’s better now.

Unfortunately, though, he’s back at his old games and together with big brother Doug who ran against Tory in 2014 as a last-minute substitute when Rob went into hospital, has set his sights on tormenting Tory for the next three years.

Rob Ford has already announced he will run in 2018 against Tory, who he calls a liar and a mayor of “broken promises.”

Some media types are loving it, especially Ford’s cheerleaders at the Toronto Sun and some TV and radio talk shows, who pump up almost everything Rob and Doug say and do, granting them more exposure and importance than they deserve.

Obviously, Rob Ford has every legal right to run again for mayor.

And Doug Ford has every right to seek the leadership of the federal Conservative party, as is being speculated, now that Stephen Harper is stepping down after last week’s federal election defeat.

But what makes Rob and Doug think voters want them in power?

Indeed, why don’t the Ford brothers just go away, like Harper has?

If anything, their time is up and their once-heralded “Ford Nation” is a spent political force.

That was made clear during the federal election when the Fords, despite all their bluster about their ability to help Harper and the Conservatives, failed miserably in delivering votes to their federal friends.

“We are going to show them what a rally is about,” Doug Ford vowed in promising to deliver 5,000 supporters and a “packed house” for a Harper event in Etobicoke in the final days of the federal campaign. He couldn’t do it, attracting less than half that amount.

On election day, Ford Nation was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Conservative candidates were trounced across the city, finishing distant seconds to Liberal candidates in every Etobicoke and Scarborough riding, including those where Rob and Doug had fared well in their respective 2010 and 2014 mayoral bids.

In many other Toronto ridings Tory candidates ran third behind both the Liberals and New Democrats.

The ultimate result is that the Fords now live in a riding represented federally by a Liberal, in a city headed by a progressive mayor and in a province headed by a Liberal premier.

That’s a repudiation of the Fords and what they stand for — not an endorsement.

Like the Conservatives under Harper, the Ford Nation movement has a base of about 30 per cent of voters, people who will stick with the Fords, or Harper, regardless of what mess they make for themselves.

But like Harper, the Fords have no room to grow their support — and they don’t seem to care or try. They never bother to build bridges with voters who don’t see eye-to-eye with them. Instead, they burn them down.

Maybe Doug Ford should run for Harper’s old job. Let’s see just how much support he really does have even among Conservatives. Somehow, though, I doubt Ford will dare to enter the race, afraid of being humiliated.

As for Rob Ford, it’s obvious he’s learned little from his time as mayor. As a city councillor, he’s back feuding with fellow councillors, clowning for the cameras and doing little to make this city better. Such behaviour may excite his media cronies and diehard loyalists, but it’s the main reason the majority of voters will never again put him in the mayor’s chair.

It’s also one reason that John Tory can relax, at least for a day, and celebrate this one-year anniversary.