01) TORONTO'S TEA PARTY MAYOR

 

By Liz Rowley

 

            Around the world Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug have been objects of media derision since the Mayor's crack habit and alcoholism were confirmed by a police report.

 

            A lengthy police investigation exposed the video where Ford is smoking a crack pipe, making racist and homophobic attacks. Two of the men in the video have been shot, and one was killed. Ford's driver has been arrested for drug trafficking and other offenses.

 

            With everything the Mayor does, the intent is build up a heroic persona as a defender of the underdog, a red‑tape cutter, a man unafraid to "say it like it is."

 

            But the police report exposed the Mayor as a racist with criminal connections, and a list of domestic assault complaints from his wife. Ford also faces sexual assault complaints, and reports of drunken and belligerent behaviour at official events. He was removed from coaching and financing a high school football team after racially stereotyping players and their families.

 

            In November, City Council passed a series of motions to transfer most of the Mayor's powers to Deputy Mayor Norm Gardner, a member of Ford's hand‑picked Executive Committee. As the Fords blustered retribution, hundred of protestors demanded the Mayor's ouster as the key to "Save Our Toronto".

 

            Premier Kathleen Wynne, who had offered to provide City Council with "new tools" to strip the Mayor of his powers, was relieved. Wynne has never been elected, having inherited the top job when Dalton McGuinty resigned after stripping collective bargaining rights from School Boards, teachers and educational workers.

 

            With such a reprehensible public record, why has Ford not faced charges for any of the offenses he has committed?

 

            Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby has asked exactly this question. At the very least, Ruby says, police have had grounds to search the Mayor's car and home, as they do in thousands of similar cases every year. Why is Ford exempt?

 

            The fact is Ford has been protected by police, by the corporate moneybags in the city, and by the Tory machine in Ontario and federally.

 

            These powerful forces moved mountains to elect Ford and the right‑wing majority on Council in 2010. They wanted to slash city budgets, privatize public services and assets, attack municipal unions, tear up collective agreements, destroy public housing and eliminate public boards and input wherever possible.

 

            For the last three years, budget deliberations have consisted of threats to the public and retribution to councillors who opposed the Ford cuts. This Mayor and his right‑wing majority have done the job they were contracted to do by those who bought and paid for their election.

 

            Not surprisingly, these are the same forces the police "serve and protect."

 

            But now it seems the Big Money is shifting to support John Tory for Mayor in 2014, if the Mayor is unable to resurrect himself. Yet Ford is already campaigning against the proposed 2014 budget which includes a 2.5% tax hike. Ford calls the increase the same "gravy train" he "derailed" in 2010. Will this stick? Some of it will, but how much depends on the progressive forces and the alternative they project ‑ or don't ‑ in the 2014 campaign.

 

            Ford's base, while shrinking, is still significant, shifting between 20% and 40% in the polls. Where does this support come from?

 

            According to figures published by the Toronto Star, the poor white working class, poorly educated and increasingly marginalized, are the core support for Ford Nation. But it also includes the bankrupted and ruined small business class who have no solidarity with anyone, and who often blame low‑waged workers and unions for their situation, not big business. And this group is growing.

 

            Ford Nation also includes the déclassé elements whose loyalty is bought and sold as strike‑breakers and union‑busters. Add in the racists, homophobes and bigots, and it's a potent mix of blind anger and resentment, skilfully turned against organized labour, youth, women, Aboriginal Peoples, migrants, and the LGBTQ community. It also has a very sharp anti‑communist edge.

 

            In the US, this same grouping make up the base of the Tea Party, while in parts of Europe this is the base of far right movements, such as Golden Dawn in Greece.

 

            Without a decisive political challenge, this grouping will sink deeper roots as the capitalist crisis deepens, and the threat to working people will grow.

 

            In the 2014 elections, the target for labour and its allies must be to replace the Mayor and the right with a progressive majority in Toronto, and across the province.

 

            To do that we need a coalition of forces able to unite around progressive municipal policies, and candidates who will work with these coalitions and be accountable to them between elections.

 

            This is urgent in Toronto, where the right-wing affliction is easily transmittable, and could appear in any number of cities if action isn't taken soon.

 

(The above article is from the December 1-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)