Rob Ford is removed as Mayor of Toronto, and Mark Carney is flying across the pond to become Governor of the Bank of England.
If any politician is looking to unload some bad news, today would be the perfect “take out the trash day“.
Rob Ford is removed as Mayor of Toronto, and Mark Carney is flying across the pond to become Governor of the Bank of England.
If any politician is looking to unload some bad news, today would be the perfect “take out the trash day“.
4 responses to “Goodbye”
I supported him over G.S., and I like him as councillor. He’s proved a terrible mayor though, and despite my then-support, I’m happy yo see him go and hope that both the ‘right’ and ‘left’ can scrounge up better candidates next time.
Rob Ford never clicked in that being Mayor was night and day different from being a counsellor. Nobody gives a crap if you skip a meeting to coach your football team when you’re a nothing counsellor, but as mayor of one of the biggest cities in North America…It was kind of embarassing.
Carney going over to England hurts. I’m a big fan of the guy (well as much as you can be of an ex Goldman Sachs fellow). I do not have faith in Harper to be able to make another inspired selection like that again.
Ford may have done many things which many in Toronto don’t like, and I’m not going to defend those actions.
But this ruling was very inconsistent, suggesting at one point that the Judge would not do what the Legislature had not yet chosen to do (i.e. to create yet another exemption from a long list of exemptions already present in the MCIA), then later doing exactly that – creating a penalty specifically where the Legislature had not yet chosen to do so.
The Supreme Court explained just a short time ago that it should be very difficult for a Judge to toss out an elected official. This Judge chose to ignore that higher Court’s ruling. An appeals court could yet follow the law.
For those who haven’t read the ruling, I should explain: the MCIA includes a list of “exemptions” under which circumstance “Section 5” does not apply. (Section 5 being the part which says a member can’t attempt to speak, vote, or in any way attempt to influence the vote.) The Judge specifically refused to “read-in” an exemption where transparency is not an issue, as is the situation with Ford.
But one argument made by the defence is that the punishment being voted on was beyond what the law allows. And, indeed, the law only allows two punishments: a reprimand, or suspension of pay for up to 90 days. Yet the Judge “read-in” additional punishments including an order to repay $3150. Had the Judge followed what the law says, the vote which Ford took would have been a “nullity”, no conflict could exist, and the case would have been dismissed.