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Benjamin Boles on being glued to Rob Ford

The marathon citizen filibuster Thursday night may not have had much of a chance of changing Rob Ford’s opinions, but the absurdist political theatre did succeed in transforming the mindset of a great number of Torontonians who until now were far from engaged in the political process.

Despite doing everything he could to limit the public’s input while maintaining the illusion of consultation, Ford badly miscalculated just how passionate Torontonians are about their city, and grossly overestimated the loyalty of Ford Nation.

Though its effect on the decision-making process may be negligible, you can’t deny that something changed dramatically by the end of that joke of a meeting.

My Twitter feed is usually dominated by musicians, promoters, DJs and nightlife people rather than by municipal politics junkies and activists, and yet all anyone was talking about that night was the circus at City Hall.

Folks who’ve never paid attention to a city council meeting in their lives were glued to their TVs, computers or smartphones – all of them flabbergasted to find out just how insane things have become.

People who may have been vaguely sympathetic to Ford’s braying about government waste were offended to watch him ignore deputation after deputation. They were astounded as Giorgio Mammoliti acted like an attack dog to sweet old ladies staying up way past their bedtime to plead politely for compassionate government.

If Ford had hoped to expose his critics as a bunch of professional protesters and union goons, his plan backfired badly.

Instead, what Toronto learned was not only that city services are essential to our health and well-being, but the people who provide them are more articulate, thoughtful and likeable than the thugs on city council who want to ignore them.

Tuesday’s meeting was the kind of spectacle that was impossible to turn away from, and the last thing Ford wanted was for the city to watch this process closely.

He may very well have provided the spark for a whole new wave of opposition among people who previously wouldn’t have paid much attention, and for that we should be thankful.

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com

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