1. Rob Ford "forgot" that he was charged with drug possession in the US. Regardless of whether or not the drug charges themselves are a problem, forgetting that they happened (and this only 11 years ago) is a problem. Do you remember your last encounter with police? Yes you do. Do you remember every encounter you've ever had with police? Probably. I do, and they weren't even negative. Dealing with police is unusual, inconvenient, a break from routine, and pretty scary. Having it happen in another country with strict drug laws is even scarier. So how could he have forgotten it? Is he losing his faculties? Does he face police charges so often that they've become routine? Or does he think his constituency is so stupid they won't notice that there's something wrong with this picture? I can't imagine any scenario that wouldn't be a cause for concern among his supporters.
2. Rob Ford wants to stop immigrants from moving to Toronto, saying we have too many people already. Remember when you first moved to Toronto? All the application forms you had to fill out? The stress of waiting for acceptance? Of course not, because it doesn't work that way. You just show up. Secure housing and move in. Or don't secure housing first if you don't want to, just show up. Being able to live wherever you want in Canada is an actual, enshrined-in-the-Charter capital-R Right. The mayor of a city can in no way do anything about it. So why bring it up as though it's actionable? Does he egregiously misunderstand the scope of powers of mayor? Or does he think his constituency is so stupid they're unaware of how it works? I can't imagine any scenario that wouldn't be a cause for concern among his supporters.
10 comments:
I think he's just pressing buttons. Out here in Alberta, Ralph Klein wanted to bring back capital punishment--specifically hanging--because he knew it played well with what he liked to call "severely normal Albertans." He also gave his support to the invasion of Iraq--something else I'm pretty sure isn't under provincial jurisdiction. Maybe Ford will start advocating for military conscription.
"Rob Ford wants to stop immigrants from moving to Toronto, saying we have too many people already."
Way to speak to a city full of immigrants and children and grandchildren of immigrants.
How does he think he would do that, even if he was elected?
How does he think
I don't think he does. At all.
Seriously though, I hope someone asks him for a specific action plan. About anything, actually.
Ford did not say that he wants to stop immigrants from moving to Toronto. His comments were in reference to the Tamil "refugees" and the ability of Toronto's social service networks to accommodate them. The issue is that they did not "fill out forms" or "wait for acceptance".
The Tamil refugees will settle the way all refugees do - through their own community support network and with the help of agencies - and not necessarily in Toronto. There's no reason to think they'll be any different, despite demagogues like Rob Ford playing on xenophobia, bigotry and fear.
Did he mention anything specific about how that's pertinent or actionable? Because I don't see how it's in any way within the jurisdiction or purview of municipal government.
I've known legal immigrants who have spoken of being initially sent to specific localities upon entering Canada.
As for voting for Ford, my current female provincial NDP rep was a hard drugs smuggler, my previous NDP federal rep was a pre-bankupty era CAW auto negotiator. And both Smitherman and Rossi have also admitted drug usage. It isn't an ideal line-up of candidates for Toronto but likely we don't have anyone better. Ford at least went to a good Cdn. University and left towards completion (as did Dion supporting Kennedy), Smitherman was a high school drop-out according to some commenters approved at a Star article.
"I've known legal immigrants who have spoken of being initially sent to specific localities upon entering Canada."
Can you explain this, please? Having gone through the legal immigration process myself, I know that one is not "sent" anywhere.
There is a provincial sponsorship application, to encourage people to live outside the major population centres. If you apply through that, you are supposed to live in that province for a certain number of years, but you cannot be compelled to.
That's the only circumstance I can think of where Canada has any say in where a new immigrant lives.
I think you just explained it L-girl. All I know is that I have met a few people who've casually related their starts throughout Canada, before later moving to major population Toronto.
- If it is about programs encouraging immigrants to go to smaller centres, that's outside the influence of Toronto's mayor. I'm pretty sure we don't have any programs specifically encouraging people to come here (if we do, please let me know with links and/or keywords, because I'm supposed to know this stuff), and we can't, like, make other communities encourage them more or anything.
- I don't see the drug use itself as necessarily a problem, but I think the fact of either forgetting being arrested or trying to convince us he forgot being arrested is a red flag, for the reasons outlined in the original post.
- Given the candidates' ages and accumulated political and life experience, I don't think their formal education is particularly relevant. I'm significantly younger and less accomplished than any of them, and I know in my own life my university degree is pretty much irrelevant. It was relevant when I was 22 and had very little professional experience, but now it's my professional experience that gives me what professional credibility I might have.
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