Even if he didn’t vote, the outcome would have been the same. But yeah, I realize we have laws and need to follow them. And if you don’t follow them, then you take whatever punishment is prescribed. In my eyes he could have been completely ignorant on the issue, and that’s no excuse, but I’d hate to lose my job on what amounts to a technicality that didn’t affect the outcome of anything.
The CanaDoper Café (2012 edition of The great, ongoing Canadian current events and politics thread.)
More CFL marketing ideas for next season:
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Makeover day. First 1000 fans get free sparkly eyeshadow and matching hair scrunchies.
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New mascot for Edmonton Eskimos: Lalaloopsie with silly hair
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Naming rights for Winnipeg’s new stadium? Mattel. Proposed name = “Barbies Magic Palace”
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No penalty for illegal block. Instead, the opposing team will be punished by “totally not talking to you, like, forever”
I’m sure many people would agree. Makes you human. The problem, I think, is what guarantees we have that next time, outcome would again be non-consequential?
He’s just a dude who thinks rules are good as long as they don’t apply to him.
First time I noticed his attitudes is when he started complaining about his fellow councillors - about 4 or 5 years ago - who spend $50 on pencils or have a budget for travel. It totally went past his head that not every councillor had a rich dad who’d pay for everything you might need.
It was like… I have money so I don’t need city to give me money for travel. Now, let me apply this “rule’ to everyone. Hubris.
I don’t see it as a technicality. Conflict of interest rules say that you don’t use public office for private gain. That’s a basic principle. Breach it, and sanctions will follow.
Plus, even though the vote in the Council was in his favour, that doesn’t necessarily mean that his vote didn’t make a difference. If he had come to the debate and cut a cheque for $3150, the matter would have been over. But by opposing it, he turned it into an issue in the Council, which then divided on predictable lines, with his supporters lining up with him. His vote may not have been needed to carry it, but his opposition to the motion seems to have triggered an outcome in his favour.
Now, I agree that losing one’s seat over a dispute over $3150 seems harsh. There have been calls for legislative amendments by the Province to give the judge hearing such a case more discretion as to sanction. But, the judge has to work with the law as it is.
Eh, I think this is more like nailing Al Capone on tax evasion. It was something they could point to that he was clearly guilty of, but it wasn’t what motivated the investigation.
If Ford hadn’t acted like such an ass in so many, many ways no one would have looked for a technicality to get rid of him. But considering how much Ford seemed to ignore the rules, I doubt this is the only conflict of interest case that could be made.
All players to be assigned a ‘cutie mark’ to be put on their right butt-cheek instead of boring old jersey numbers.
Like using a phone while driving, reading a newspaper while driving, “I’ll try to find you some OxyContin, what does it go for on the street?”, etc.
Darn it! (this is the pit, right?) The Grey Cup has a pretty dismal record of half time entertainment. Lenny Kravitz, The Black Eyed Peas, The Five Neat Guys. Even when the band is to my liking or a misty eyed minus 20 reunion the half time show is usually pretty lame. Everyone’s getting beer or chilli or nachos or something, right?
If The 5 Neat Guys are singing, I’m getting myself some egg salad sandwiches!
Who made them?
My wife Patsy.
Hey, no need to insult me.
Of course, with regards to the Rob Ford thing, it is virtually certain the winner of the next mayoral election will now be Rob Ford.
People who live in downtown Toronto just don’t comprehend why Torontonians who live in Etobicoke, Scarborough, and the Yorks voted for the guy. They’re gonna vote for him again, too - and this case will win him votes.
I’m less convinced. He ran solidly on “stopping the gravy train” and he didn’t make a lot of progress on that front.
On the plus side, he was able to get the unions to back down and he was able to contract out garbage services. And he made some minor cuts to city services.
On the minus side, his attempt to get the province to take over the TTC failed miserably (and it’s unclear to me how getting me to pay for the TTC via provincial taxes instead of property tax is “stopping the gravy train”), and I’m certainly not convinced that condo developers will pay for a bunch of cheap subway expansion.
(My two cents on Rob Ford: I liked him better as a gadfly than as a mayor. And I’m a resident of one of “the Yorks”.)
I always thought his 15 minutes paid infomercial with John Oakley on AM640 – while he was counsellor- was partially, a comedy routine:
“Hey Johnny, Johnny, listen to this, this is incredible, you know what happened down at the City Hall, you want to know what happened, this councillor, oh my God, he spent $50 on pencils, I saw it, I saw his budget, and there’s a line there that say – pencils, and then $50 - it’s all there, $50 dollar Johnny. You know what… we got to stop this gravy train. It’s got to stop.”
Yeah, that’ll save us.
Maybe it’s because I’m Out West, but I never understood why he was voted in in the first place. He strikes me as a bit of (or a lot of) a boob.
Yeah I don’t get it either aside from “He’s an outspoken outsider that will straighten out those idiots”. What was/is the appeal or maybe what do the suburbs dislike so much about the other kinds of candidates?
Ottawa had something similar with our last mayor. Larry O’Brien was a CEO prior to running and winning on basically a platform of “I know how to run a business” and promptly discovered that councilors weren’t employees. Same insider/outsider dynamic kicked up with a trial and everything.
Actually, I think you meant that he* has *a lot of boob;
the fact upon which ordinarily I wouldn’t waste much thought, but for his and his brother’s weight-loss disappointment.
I mean, dude – if you want to be a leader, and a normal guy, then you’d be well-advised to NOT give up on your big, well-publicized weight-loss challenge to yourself.
Kinda showed a bit of a quit-when-the-going-gets-tough constitution, IMO (and I only say this because he is the Mayor of Toronto – a pretty powerful guy on, indeed, a global scale, and not just some schmo who had a hard time changing their lifestyle). He could have made some serious hay, both political and personal, if he’d actually succeeded in losing weight, but instead folded under the pressure.
Just thought I’d weigh in on that, as I don’t really have a horse in the race, although it’s nice to be able to jump on the subway once every couple years.
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Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor will no longer be needed to call the game for the 2013 Grey Cup. Replaced by Tinky-Winky and Laa-Laa. Brian Williams replaced by Po.
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Sideline team snacks prepared in Easy-Bake Oven.
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Instead of having Gatorade poured over him, winning coach pelted by juice boxes.
The idea was that Toronto has a (big?) budget deficit and the backlash for that fell on David Miller, the previous mayor. His opponents didn’t differentiate themselves enough from Miller, I guess.
Why do people like him? Well, when he was a city councillor, he was kind of a funny entertaining guy and a natural devil’s advocate and gadfly. And he definitely has a “no bullshit” vibe to him.