Rob Ford’s year began with a legal victory and his allies’ hope for an end to “distractions.”
It ends with Ford’s personal “distractions” turned all-consuming as the mayor, sidelined from city business by his council colleagues and facing a defamation lawsuit, wages a mayoral campaign that looks remarkably like his first: that of a bombastic outsider, railing against everyone.
In depth: The Rob Ford saga
4
Less-than-laudatory videos suggesting inebriation (one yet to be made public)
8.5
Apologies
Lots
Refusals to resign
7
Staff lost (plus Sandro Lisi, Dave Price and 11 transferred to deputy mayor)
$880,000
Dollars cut from office budget
474
Pages of one police Information to Obtain
1
Subway passed (and mostly funded).
1
Over-elucidated sexual proclivity.
To refresh your memory, a quick look back at 2013 in Ford:
Jan. 1
New Year’s Eve levee gives citizens the chance to line up and meet the mayor and several councillors who joined him.
“I’m just hoping there are going to be less distractions this year, then-Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday says.
Jan. 15/16
Ford votes against his own budget and loses his budget chair, Mike Del Grande.
Jan. 24
Ford’s victorious in court as the conflict-of-interest case against him is thrown out on what lawyer Clay Ruby calls a “technicality.”
Feb. 1
Audit finds Ford spent more than $40,000 over his limit during the election campaign and broke multiple rules. (The audit committee votes not to pursue a probe Feb. 25, which Ford calls “a great day for democracy”)
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May 17
![May 24Ford issues first statement since crack video allegations: [tweetable text="May 24: 'I cannot comment on a video I haven't seen or does not exist.' #yearinford"]"I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine. As for a video, I cannot comment on a video I haven't seen or does not exist."[/tweetable] And he won’t step down.[tp_video id=588743]May 25Globe and Mail article alleges Doug Ford dealt drugs in the 1980s. Ford denies these claims.[tp_video id=589957]May 26[tweetable text="May 26: Ford brothers are back on the radio, calling journalists 'maggots,' saying 'there is no video' #yearinford"]Ford brothers are back on the radio, calling journalists "maggots,"[/tweetable] insinuating they do drugs and saying “there is no video.”May 27George Christopolous and Isaac Ransom resign. And Ford apologizes for calling reporters maggots. “I sincerely apologize to each and everyone of you. I understand you have a job to do,” he said.May 30Kia Nejatian and Brian Johnston resign. Mayor has no plans to do the same.June 15A woman is charged after [tweetable text="June 15: A women's charged for throwing a drink at Ford during the Taste of Little Italy. #yearinford"]throwing a drink at Ford during the Taste of Little Italy[/tweetable] festival. The charges are later dropped.June 19Ford staffer Chris Fickel resigns.June 26Ford staffer and close friend of the family David Price is suspended after apparently making misleading phone calls to radio shows and reporters.July 17Council votes for Scarborough subway.July 18[tweetable text="July 18: Gawker donates its Crackstarter funds. #yearinford"]Unable to get its hands on the video[/tweetable], Gawker donates its Crackstarter funds to four Toronto non-profits.Aug. 9[tweetable text="Aug. 9: Video of Rob Ford apparently inebriated at the Taste of the Danforth. #yearinford"]Video of Rob Ford apparently inebriated at the Taste of the Danforth [/tweetable]causes a stir when it’s posted on YouTube.[tp_video id=773740]](https://cbcmoney.live/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mdb102140549_high.jpg?quality=65&strip=all)
Nov. 6
Ford policy advisor Brooks Barnett quits.
Nov. 7
Another video emerges, purchased by the Toronto Star, showing Ford in an apparent rage. It looks like it was filmed over the summer, during the byelection. In it Ford appears energetic and agitated, vows to kill someone, asks for “10 minutes to make sure he’s dead.” Ford says he was “extremely, extremely inebriated.” And has no plans to resign.
Ford’s mom and sister speak to the media for the first time in months, saying he has a weight problem and is being bullied. “He won’t resign and I don’t want him to,” mom Diane Ford says.
Nov. 8
The Ford brothers’ radio show goes off the air.
Nov. 12
Everyone wants a bobblehead of the mayor.
Nov. 13
City council calls on mayor to take a leave of absence and/or resign. (Spoiler: He doesn’t)
Further police documents allege staff saw him inebriated and were dispatched to buy him booze. Ford denies the allegations.
Nov. 14
Ford denies police document allegations in colourful terms that reveal more about his sex life than most people wanted to know. He later apologizes for those remarks, claiming he “saw red” when asked to answer accusations he sexually harassed a former staffer. Meanwhile Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’ll intervene only if city council can “clearly indicate” it’s dysfunctional.
Explicit language.
Nov. 15
City council strips Ford of most of his powers as mayor (there aren’t many). Ford says he’ll sue. Wynne says this vote indicates council is functional and there’s no need for her to step in.
Nov. 17
Rob Ford goes to a football game (despite pleas not to).
And swears on CNN, then apologizes.
Nov. 18
Just another day at city council.
Also this, for which Ford later apologized.
Then, council cut Ford’s budget and stripped more of his powers. "You have just attacked Kuwait," he said.
Nov. 19
Ford Nation – the Sun News TV show, not the hyper-loyal voting bloc – is kaput after a single episode. And Tory MP Jason Kenney thinks Ford should resign as Norm Kelly takes 11 of his staff and most of his powers.
Nov. 21
Ford talks to a business crowd at Casa Loma and allows himself an uncharacteristic moment of self-reflexive levity: “We have reduced councillors’ budgets by $6.4 million in the last three years,” he said. “And even more in the last three days.”
Nov. 25
Ford, who pushed hard for a subway funded by a 0.5 per cent tax increase, slams a budget proposal that would raise property taxes by a total 2.5 per cent. Doesn’t say where money should come from instead.
Dec. 1
Ford attends another football game. Later says he had no idea he was posing for pictures with Hells Angels.
Dec. 4
Newly released court documents allege Ford tried to buy a video of him smoking crack cocaine for $5,000 and a car weeks before media reports of the alleged crack video surfaced. Ford later calls this an “outright lie.”
Dec. 5
Rob Ford on the radio: “I don’t believe in all this public-funded health care.” Plus: What we can learn from Nelson Mandela.
Dec. 9
In an interview with Conrad Black, refers to “Daniel Dale, in my backyard.” “He’s taking photos of little kids,” Ford said during the interview. “I don’t want to say that word, but you start thinking ‘What’s this guy all about?’” Dale has said he was not in the backyard, was not near the fence, was not taking pictures of the house, yard or anyone’s children.
Dec. 10
Ford refuses to apologize for his insinuation about Daniel Dale. "I stand by every word I said with Conrad Black in my interview."
Dec. 12
Daniel Dale serves Ford with a libel notice, asking him and Vision TV to apologize "immediately ‘publicly, abjectly, unreservedly and completely."
Dec. 15
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is miffed at Jason Kenney’s suggestion Ford should resign. And Ford goes to church.
Dec. 16
Ford wants to contract out garbage collection east of Yonge Street.
Dec. 17
After reluctantly apologizing for for calling his fellow councillors “corrupt,” Ford apologizes to Daniel Dale, kind of: He’s sorry “for the way in which the media has interpreted my statements.” He takes issue “with his bosses at the Toronto Star to put him and I in this situation.” And he wishes “to sincerely apologize again to Mr. Dale if my actual words have caused him any harm or personal offence."
I asked Mayor Ford to 1) retract all of his false claims about my conduct and 2) issue an unreserved, abject, complete apology.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 17, 2013
His statement today didn’t come close. I’m proceeding with a defamation lawsuit.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 17, 2013
Then this happened:
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