Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

[George Wallace]

Ridiculous. It's working families who are forced to use those food banks now. Welfare rates have been falling since the mid 90's. 3,070,900 recipients in 1995 to 1,679,800 in 2005 for all of Canada. Ontario had 1,344,600 recipients in 1995 and has dropped steadily every year to 455,247 this September. There are now less than half the people on welfare there were 15 years ago. Likewise the number of workers making minimum wage has skyrocketed.

The 'Poverty Line' is artificially kept lower than it actually is.  This could explain why more working families are finding the need to use Food Banks.  Welfare rates dropping may be due to more policing of the system and cleaning up on cases of fraud or the government just cutting its obligations, as it has in Health Care.  I am not an Economist, so arguing economics and the artificial state that they are in is not where I would excel, so I will leave that to the SMEs.



NOW!  This morning on the news I heard the comment that Rob Ford has made a statement that he wants to run from Prime Minister at sometime in the future.  Is the man on crack?

Silly me.  Dumb question. 

 

[Edward Campbell]

We don't have a "poverty line" in Canada. At the national level, Statistics Canada uses Low Income Cut Offs (note the plural) to, as they say, describe "an income threshold below which a family will likely devote a larger share of its income on the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family." It is a statistical measure, and a very useful one at that ~ but it is neither intended for nor is it much used to set welfare rates. It is, however, grossly misused by dishonest* poverty advocates to lobby for even more (and more wasteful) social spending.

But welfare is a provincial and, in many cases, a municipal responsibility and each jurisdiction has its own definitions. That's why we see "welfare shopping."

_____
* I say "dishonest" because most of these "advocates' know that they are misusing data. Those who don't know that they are misusing the data are just stupid poverty advocates.

 

[The Bread Guy]

NOW!  This morning on the news I heard the comment that Rob Ford has made a statement that he wants to run from Prime Minister at sometime in the future.  Is the man on crack?

Silly me.  Dumb question.

I'll see you your "PM comment" and raise you with this:

Rob Ford hailed as ‘The White Obama,’ Doug Ford tells CNN

Riiiiiiight ....

 

[dapaterson]

Rob Ford was born in Kenya?


Hmm... has anyone ever seen Rob Ford's birth certificate?

 

[pbi]

NOW!  This morning on the news I heard the comment that Rob Ford has made a statement that he wants to run from Prime Minister at sometime in the future.  Is the man on crack?

Good. I hope he runs as far from Prime Minister as he can. (without smashing into a camera or falling off a weigh scale).

But seriously, unless somebody forms a "Ford Bund", what party would nominate him? Can you imagine Harper allowing another PR train wreck, after the recent ones?

 

[Journeyman]

Maybe in his addled mind, he's seen reference to some Federal Liberal politician having admitted to using illegal drugs, with no great backlash.....and figures they're kindred spirits and that's the way to go.

      :dunno:

 

[dapaterson]

But seriously, unless somebody forms a "Ford Bund", what party would nominate him? Can you imagine Harper allowing another PR train wreck, after the recent ones?

Well, Harper could always name him as a Senator from PEI.  He seems to have all the basic qualifications the PM applied last time - overweight, love of the camera, love of drink, living in Ontario....

 

[George Wallace]

;D

Freudian slip there.  I doubt Mayor Ford can run very far from anyone.

Should have been: He made a statement that he would like to run for PM.   





(Should have more coffee.)

 

[pbi]

Well...I was wrong! I never expected to see this happen, but Tim Hudak today announced on TV that  if Toronto City Council asked for a provincial intervention, his party would support it.  I applaud his position, particularly if it costs him T.O. votes in the next election, but I am shocked. I was sure the provincial Tories would stand by their man.

On another "rats off the sinking ship" note, I  read an article in the Toronto Sun today that began with the words "...Toronto's crack smoking mayor...". The Sun was once a Ford bulldog, but that worm has turned as well.

I watched him bowl over the female councillor today (he was rushing to save his brother who was in an "altercation"-Council Chamber is a very dangerous place) and making silly hand gestures to mock the councillor who had lost his license at a RIDE stop. It's like a 12 year old in the play ground.

Does this never end?

 

[Edward Campbell]

Well...I was wrong! I never expected to see this happen, but Tim Hudak today announced on TV that  if Toronto City Council asked for a provincial intervention, his party would support it.  I applaud his position, particularly if it costs him T.O. votes in the next election, but I am shocked. I was sure the provincial Tories would stand by their man.

On another "rats off the sinking ship" note, I  read an article in the Toronto Sun today that began with the words "...Toronto's crack smoking mayor...". The Sun was once a Ford bulldog, but that worm has turned as well.

I watched him bowl over the female councillor today (he was rushing to save his brother who was in an "altercation"-Council Chamber is a very dangerous place) and making silly hand gestures to mock the councillor who had lost his license at a RIDE stop. It's like a 12 year old in the play ground.

Does this never end?

I suspect that Prime Minister Harper hopes it doesn't ~ it makes his Senate scandal look positively tame.

 

[DBA]

When you start comparing others in the Canadian political scene to Nazis it is likely you who are intolerant, close mined and filled with hate. It amazes me how much vitriol people can spew at Ford and then decry the crassness of politics as if they weren't major contributors. The lack of self awareness is staggering. This is why I like John Baird - he spews the same as the rest in question period but doesn't pretend that isn't what he is doing.

I try to always keep in mind I could be wrong about any fact or issue as after all none of us are perfect in our perception, reasoning or knowledge. This changes how I treat those who disagree with me - I challenge their perception, reasoning and knowledge of a fact or issue instead of going after them personally.

 

[George Wallace]

When you start comparing others in the Canadian political scene to Nazis it is likely you who are intolerant, close mined and filled with hate. It amazes me how much vitriol people can spew at Ford and then decry the crassness of politics as if they weren't major contributors. The lack of self awareness is staggering. This is why I like John Baird - he spews the same as the rest in question period but doesn't pretend that isn't what he is doing.

I try to always keep in mind I could be wrong about any fact or issue as after all none of us are perfect in our perception, reasoning or knowledge. This changes how I treat those who disagree with me - I challenge their perception, reasoning and knowledge of a fact or issue instead of going after them personally.

???

Are you invoking the Goodwin Law?

Just for a term of reference, what are you referring to?  Whom are you referring to?  What post are you referring to?  Or is this just a shot out of the blue?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Well...I was wrong! I never expected to see this happen, but Tim Hudak today announced on TV that  if Toronto City Council asked for a provincial intervention, his party would support it.  I applaud his position, particularly if it costs him T.O. votes in the next election, but I am shocked. I was sure the provincial Tories would stand by their man.

On another "rats off the sinking ship" note, I  read an article in the Toronto Sun today that began with the words "...Toronto's crack smoking mayor...". The Sun was once a Ford bulldog, but that worm has turned as well.

I watched him bowl over the female councillor today (he was rushing to save his brother who was in an "altercation"-Council Chamber is a very dangerous place) and making silly hand gestures to mock the councillor who had lost his license at a RIDE stop. It's like a 12 year old in the play ground.

Does this never end?

So let's see if I got this right.

You lament that the provincial Tories are not worth the stuff and that they'll back Ford.

Then they do the honourable thing and they become 'another' rats off a sinking ship?

Or did you actually mean "On another rats off a sinking ship note"

I'm sorry, but I'm getting mixed up as to where you're coming from.

 

[Journeyman]

Because he wore an Argos jersey this weekend, the sports channels all have Ford segments now. 


Relevance?  No, none that I could see; just mocking.

 

[George Wallace]

Got to love Rick Mercer's Rant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdoLedAWWg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsfdoLedAWWg&app=desktop

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Got to love Rick Mercer's Rant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdoLedAWWg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsfdoLedAWWg&app=desktop

QFT

 

[pbi]

So let's see if I got this right.

You lament that the provincial Tories are not worth the stuff and that they'll back Ford.

Then they do the honourable thing and they become 'another' rats off a sinking ship?

Or did you actually mean "On another rats off a sinking ship note"

I'm sorry, but I'm getting mixed up as to where you're coming from.

Perhaps I'm misusing "rats".

It's just interesting to watch as more and more light bulbs come on in various peoples' heads that this person is utterly unfit.

And yes, to be clear, I never expected the Tories, at either level, to pop smoke on a person who (rightly or wrongly) was being cultivated as their shining hope for Toronto. That why I said "I was wrong".

I've commented elsewhere that I see no reason to consider Tim Hudak a dishonourable or unfit person in the manner that Ford clearly is. What I did say (I think) is that I thought the Ontario Tories' political imperatives would keep them away from supporting a provincial intervention. They have surprised me: pleasantly I have to admit.

 

[George Wallace]

Perhaps I'm misusing "rats".

It's just interesting to watch as more and more light bulbs come on in various peoples' heads that this person is utterly unfit.

As Rick Mercer points out, he may be unfit and a clown, but his politics are something to look at.

 

[pbi]

When you start comparing others in the Canadian political scene to Nazis it is likely you who are intolerant, close mined and filled with hate. It amazes me how much vitriol people can spew at Ford and then decry the crassness of politics as if they weren't major contributors. The lack of self awareness is staggering. This is why I like John Baird - he spews the same as the rest in question period but doesn't pretend that isn't what he is doing.

I try to always keep in mind I could be wrong about any fact or issue as after all none of us are perfect in our perception, reasoning or knowledge. This changes how I treat those who disagree with me - I challenge their perception, reasoning and knowledge of a fact or issue instead of going after them personally.

Are you directing this to me?

If so,  that wasn't what I said, nor what I meant, at all. But, as RecceGuy points out, I can be a bit oblique at times.  For the record, I don't think JT is actually Mao or Hitler.

But Rex Murphy might disagree.

 

[pbi]

Got to love Rick Mercer's Rant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdoLedAWWg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsfdoLedAWWg&app=desktop

Rick Mercer is right.  The angry people who doggedly support what they think Ford stands for, can't be discounted. And in fact they probably won't be.  As the Deputy Mayor and Councilor Minnan-Wong said today, the fiscal conservative agenda will go ahead without the Mayor if necessary, since most of council more or less support it. Ford is only one vote: the measures credited to him so far could only have become reality with the support of a majority of councillors.