Toronto’s political juggernaut may have just landed in his lap, but Ward 2 Etobicoke North council candidate Andray Domise says it’s just another day campaigning for change in the heart of Ford Nation.
“We’re running the same campaign that we were yesterday. It doesn’t matter who we’re up against,” he said in a phone interview Friday after it was announced Rob Ford is dropping out of the mayor’s race because of the discovery of a tumour in his abdomen. And running for his old council seat in Ward 2.
His brother Doug, meanwhile, will be replacing Rob in the mayor’s race.
Domise says he is “a little bit taken aback” by the Ford turn. “Mayor Ford isn’t healthy enough to continue the race for mayor, but is healthy enough to continue representing Ward 2.”
While he wished Rob Ford a speedy recovery, Domise says Ward 2 needs a new face, not a blast from the past.
Rob Ford held the ward for a decade before becoming mayor and his brother Doug took the ward in the 2010 race.
Rob and Doug didn’t forget their nephew Michael Ford, the original Ford registered to run for council in Ward 2 in his uncle Doug’s place. He has moved over to run for school board trustee in Ward 1, which includes Etobicoke North. At press time, he had not responded to NOW’s requests for comment.
Michael Ford is a nice enough kid, Domise says, but he wasn’t running a serious campaign in the first place, although a recent poll did put him comfortably ahead in the ward.
“If I was one of the parents in the ward, I really would suspect that somebody who didn’t want to run a serious city council campaign believes he’s got the chops to look after the children and the schools,” Domise says.
Rob or Mike, Domise says, his mission remains the same. Ward 2 needs better transit and infrastructure, he explained, and better access to libraries and recreational spaces.
“We’re here to represent residents of the ward, and to make sure that we get as much for this area as possible,” he said.
Munira Abukar, another candidate in the Ward 2 race, who has served on the board of Toronto Community Housing as a tenant rep since 2011, says former incumbent Doug Ford was not a voice for minority communities in the area and did little to address social service gaps.
“I do wish Rob a speedy recovery,” she says, “But when he does get better, bring it on.”
Fourteen candidates have registered to run in the ward. It’s unclear, however, whether the mayor will actually be able to campaign for his former seat. Doctors at Mount Sinai where he is being treated say the results of a biopsy on a “fair-sized” mass in his abdomen won’t be known till later this week. But surgery will most likely be required.
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