Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168

The Rob Ford spectacle is incredible and outrageous, and his friends
need to demand that he do the right thing

Canadians trust their politicians to do the right thing, even if they
do the wrong thing. They trust them to have honour, and to respect the
honour of their office.

The time for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to address allegations that he was
captured on videotape smoking crack in the presence of a drug dealer
was last Friday, when the allegations emerged, or Tuesday at the
latest. The moment passed him by. And now those who have influence on
him need to persuade him to speak the truth or go.

Mr. Ford's near-total silence has been devastating to his own cause.
His brief, perfunctory denial - "ridiculous" - did not dispel the
cloud over his head, and over the city he leads. He had only to stand
before the public and say that it was a lie, that any videotape that
exists is a fake, that he does not smoke crack, that he does not
consort with drug dealers. By not doing so, he invited the inference
that it was true.

Public office-holders do not need to respond to every rumour or
allegation. But these allegations cross a line. There is no room for
debate; Mr. Ford's alleged appearance on the videotape is a legitimate
public concern. Crack and those who deal it bring addiction and murder
to city life, especially its young people. The mayor himself has said
that some of the players on the high-school football team he coaches
would be dead if they weren't playing football. The drug trade would
kill them - it's too obvious to need saying. Indeed, one of the young
men he was allegedly seen on the videotape has since been murdered.

The spectacle Mr. Ford is making of himself and of his city is both
incredible and outrageous. Incredible because a chief magistrate who
expects serious drug-related allegations simply to fade from view
seems absurd. Outrageous because Canadian democracy relies on its
elected officials to do the right thing if they violate a public
trust, or as in this case if the trust is called into question.

Mr. Ford is not North Korea, alone on a destructive, idiosyncratic
path. He is part of a system; he professes respect for that system,
and the taxpayers who voted him to lead their local council; and he
has people he talks to and listens to. Those people include his
Progressive Conservative allies at Queen's Park and his Conservative
friends in Ottawa, including his personal friend the Canadian Finance
Minister, James Flaherty. They include the provincial government, the
senior government with direct responsibility for the city; and they
include Mr. Ford's campaign backers and advisors. They need to demand
that he do the right thing.
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MAP posted-by: Matt