WATCH: Rob Ford is out of the race for mayor of Toronto and his brother Doug is in. But there are whispers about how all of that transpired and some wonder if the Fords might have had a plan B for some time. Mike Drolet reports.
TORONTO – Doug Ford says he’ll enter “full campaign mode” this week, after dodging debates and questions about his platform since he shook up the mayoral race by registering for the city’s top job on Friday.
Ford spent a relatively quiet weekend with his family as his brother, incumbent Mayor – and erstwhile mayoral candidate – Rob Ford remains in hospital awaiting biopsy results of a tumour in his abdomen.
But despite Doug Ford’s pledges to continue his younger brother’s political legacy in City Hall, even Ford allies expressed doubts as to whether the pugnacious councillor’s cut out for the job.
“Doug is clearly the CEO of Deco. He’s a business person, he really lacks sensitivity to problems that a community could have,” Etobicoke councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby said in an interview Monday.
“It’s his way or the highway. He thinks he knows what’s right and whether it’s a ferris wheel at the waterfront, he takes a so-called hard nose business approach.”
Mayor Ford announced from his hospital bed on Friday he’s ending his re-election bid to focus on his health after doctors discovered a tumour in his abdomen.
Further test results determining his condition could be known sometime this week.
Doug Ford told reporters on Friday his brother had asked him “to take the torch while he focuses on getting better.”
Lindsay Luby criticized the Fords’ torch-passing as an attempt to create a “Ford fiefdom” built on entitlement.
But she also questioned whether Doug Ford truly wants to be mayor – he’s never liked municipal politics and has previously said he will be “running away” from city hall.
“Doug was someone who couldn’t wait to get out of council,” Lindsay Luby said. “He made it very clear he didn’t want to be there. He often didn’t come and if he came, he’d show up just to do some voting and ask his brother ‘How should I vote?’ because he wasn’t paying attention.”
If Doug is serious about being mayor, outgoing councillor and former mayoral candidate Karen Stintz, says he’ll have to work on controlling his temper. That temper has gotten him in trouble – most recently in the form of threatened legal action from outgoing police chief Bill Blair after Doug Ford accused him of leaking information to the press as payback for not having his contract renewed (Ford eventually issued a written apology, admitting the accusation was baseless).
Doug Ford also drew criticism for suggesting a home for youth with mental illness was “ruining” a neighbourhood, then telling the father of an autistic man to “go to hell” when he objected.
“Doug does have a tendency to speak before he thinks. And if he does stand to have a chance in this election he needs to rein that in,” Stintz told reporters at city hall Monday. “I’m looking forward to Doug launching his campaign and if he is serious about being a candidate and running for mayor than he will have to focus on controlling his temper and focusing his message.”
READ MORE: What could Doug Ford as mayor, Rob Ford as councillor mean for Toronto City Hall?
Although he’s no longer running for mayor, Rob Ford will still be on the municipal ballot Oct. 27 – for his old Ward 2 council seat, which he held for a decade before becoming mayor.
That pushes out his nephew Michael Ford, who was running for councillor but is now running for trustee, instead.
A poll released on the weekend gave Rob Ford a substantially lead in Ward 2 over his nearest rival, businessman and community activist Andray Domise.
Meanwhile, A poll from Forum Research Inc. conducted Friday shows Doug Ford at 34 per cent, seven points behind front-runner John Tory, who sits in the lead at 41 per cent.
Third-place contender Olivia Chow has 19 per cent support, the poll said.
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