A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
I am just getting back from a visit to friends in the Cape Cod/Boston area and one of the major stories dominating the cable news on MSNBC and other cable news channels down there in the U.S.A. is the clown show run by Rob and Doug Ford in Canada’s preeminate city of Toronto.
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper enjoys time with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. What a pair.
Once again, these two idiots are making national and now international news as one or the other of the Ford brothers are accused of being possible crack addicts, former hash traffickers, and so on and so forth
Up to now, one might put up with the stupidity of Rob Ford – the mayor as opposed to Doug Ford who sits on the city’s council – for moving to close city libraries and for not knowing who Margaret Atwood, a Pulitzer Prise winning author from Toronto, is if he passed her on the street. One might even be able to put up with allegations that he has been thrown out of public events in his city for behaving badly or in ways that suggested to some that he was stoned or drunk.
But the question is this. How much more are the people of Toronto and the leaders of this province and country going to put with from someone who obviously has some serious credibility problems running one of the most important city centres in North America? Where is Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, and Ontario’s Conservative opposition leader, who were only too happy to back Ford when he won the mayoralty seat as a neo-Conservative, but now seem to have nothing to say while he is embarrassing Toronto and bringing the brand of Canada’s major city down?
Ontarians and Canadians have continuously heard that Toronto is one of the economic engines of this province and country. If that is so, where are self-proclaimed economic pragmatists like Harper and Ontario’s provincial Conservative opposition leader, Tim Hudak, when it comes to advising Rob Ford to get out before he and his idiotic brother tarnish the national and international reputation of this great North American city anymore?
Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak yukking it up with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
I’m sure that if Ford was affiliated with the Liberal or New Democratic parties, Harper and Hudak would be all over him to do the respectable thing and get the hell out.
But forget about Harper and Hudak. Anyone who cares about Ontario and Canada as a world-wide port for business, culture and other purposes, should care what Ford and his bookend of a brother are doing to sully the reputation of Canada’s largest city.
It is time for these two morons to say goodbye. This city is too vital an economic power house for this province and country to be distracted by nonsense like this. These two morons should go, now!
(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)
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I’ve said it before and will say it again, as a small-c conservative, I think Doug Draper’s comments above are right on the money!
I am glad I do not live in Toronto. I don’t think I could survive that kind of embarrassment!
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Doug, I have to say jumping on this bandwagon might be a bit pre-mature. One could argue that the media has been extremely prejudiced and on a witch hunt given its zealous publication of a story that has not even been verified to any degree worthy of repeating. Where is the film? While I believe Rob can be a bit of a buffoon do you think he is stupid enough to get filmed smoking crack when he has the means to do so in privacy? Do you think anyone deserves to be judged in this fashion without the benefit of the facts!
As for Hudaks and Harpers response, I have to think they are doing the right thing and waiting for all the details to come out before running to judgement. So sorry, but slamming them is a little out of line in my opinion as well.
The media, and I have had experience with it, is far from perfect and has been known for taking positions when it shouldn’t, known for getting the facts wrong even if they are as clear as day. Everything they publish has to be taken with a grain of salt and I am hopeful that Ford will sue the Star out of business when they fail to substantiate, with FACTS, a story that one can consider to be very damaging to not only the reputation of this person, but damaging to Toronto’s reputation.
Just sayin……..
A response to Greg Middleton’s comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Greg, I respect your cautionary note on jumping on bandwagons, but do you actually think that The Toronto Star (regardless of what you may think of that newspaper as a corporation) or the two reporters from the Star who swear they say this video of Robbie doing a crack trip, would have reported this at risk of being sued to the point of making that newspaper entity extinct?
Not in these days of mostly timid, uncourageous reporting in the name of profits over public disclosure, dear Greg. No paper, with the possible exception of one owned by Rupert Murdoch, would take a chance like that today. Which is why I assume that you and I and the rest of the world will soon see a video of Rob Ford doin’ his thang, and it will be all over cable news from here to New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Japan and China, and won’t that be nice for us …. just what we need now. …. A city that prides itself as a world-class city and economic engine of our country controlled by an irresponsible moron like this. ‘Just sayin” from what Robbie would call a maggot in the media, Doug Draper
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To answer your question directly Doug a resounding YES!!!!! the Star and those two reporters would print this story and for many reasons. Surely you must realize that the media, particularly the Star ( a gossip rag in waiting) are motivated by things beyond reporting the news. How about sales, how about the reporters being coerced, how about politics. The media, even the most reputable, can’t get it right half the time. What’s at stake here is the reputation of a politician (regardless of being a bit of a buffoon) and our country being condemned and found guilty without the benefit of REAL VERIFIABLE PROOF.
So I say, when the film (proof) comes out, then let the condemnation begin. You would expect the same if you were on the receiving end of this personal attack.
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Funny …… Gawker (tabloid) is now stating the video is gone and is not available! SURPRISE!!! Like it ever existed…….
Everyone who believed this story and additionally repeated it like it was the truth should feel a little embarrassed for being taken by a tabloid.
Here’s another story for you…. the governor of California is an ALIEN. Not the Mexican kind, but one from outer space. Let’s see how soon it takes for that to hit the papers…..
Feeling less than embarrassed….. Just sayin…..
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