Advertisement

News

Ugh, Doug Ford to release tell-all book

With Doug Ford one never knows what to think, except the worst.

Take yesterday’s press conference promising a “very exciting and special announcement.”

The media hordes were expecting big news. TV crews schlepped to the Ford family compound in Etobicoke to discover something a little less noteworthy Doug’s sales pitch for a new book.

Turns out Doug’s written one with late brother Rob when Rob was on his death bed: Ford Nation, Two Brothers One Vision, The True Story Of The People’s Mayor. It’s expected out November 22.

Doug’s never been shy about riding his little brother’s political coattails. Now he’s got his eye on the big prize. Doug wants to be Prime Minister. Uh huh. And he’s got a book to rewrite the history of little brother’s tumultuous rise and fall as Toronto mayor to help him do it.

Doug didn’t come right out and say he wants to be PM. But he’s winding up for another run at political office. At least, that much is now clear.

Hes always been a little full of himself. And theres no stopping a Ford when they get an idea in their head, even if it’s not a particularly good one. This smells like another one of those occasions. But first about that book.

It will rock the political world. It will rock the media world, Doug says.

No one will be left untouched, he promises. Ford says it will name names and expose lie after lie after lie on the events surrounding brother Rob’s tenure as mayor. Theres no revenge, Ford claims, while suggesting at one point during his presser that efforts to remove Rob from office go right up to the provincial attorney general. Doug also said a few folks from the media will be singled out.

Rob Fords wife Renata stood behind Doug at the press conference, but she did not speak to the media. This one was all about Doug, as usual. Proceeds from the book, he says, will go to a number of charitable organizations.

But those proceeds are just as likely to help bankroll Fords next political campaign. And Ford will be running for something, somewhere, sometime, only that won’t be announced until after a cross-country tour to promote the book. Doug’s going global.

Ford just doesnt know if hes going to be running for mayor (the most likely scenario) a seat in the provincial legislature (er, yeah, sure) or PM. Where have we heard that one before? Thats right. Dougs shooting for the stars.

A reporter asked Doug if he was really serious about that PM thing. He mentioned rather gently that Doug doesn’t exactly have the qualifications. Predictably, Doug went off about the current PM being an unqualified boob (former drama teacher, he said), perhaps proving the reporters point that, in the comportment department, Doug doesn’t really have it for the highest office in the land.

But if Donald Trump, a billionaire blowhard from New York, can flirt with winning the presidency of the United States, why not Ford for PM? Wasnt it a populist wave like the one behind Trump that carried Rob into office?

If the latest Forum Poll is to be believed, Canada is just as bad a racist shit hole as the U.S. I mean, just as ripe for Trump Part II. Which is to say, we’re fertile ground for a guy just like Ford. I personally don’t believe it. We just had a federal election that would seem to prove theres still much that separates our politics from the U.S.

But outside the Big Smoke folks are not that different than our neighbours Stateside when it comes to hot button issues like immigrants and immigration, whether women should be allowed to wear a niqab in public, or the threat of terrorism, or so Forum tells us.

Evidence of that is the fact Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, a relative unknown from Ontario four years on the job, is now considered frontrunner to replace Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada on a platform of screening immigrants for so-called Canadian values.

Other candidates vying for the Conservative leadership aren’t exactly top drawer. Outside Maxime Bernier, therere a handful of no-names and also-rans. Peter MacKay, arguably the most prime ministerial among them, just opted out because he sees which way the wind is blowing in Conservative Party circles and it’s not towards the political middle ground.

So why not Doug?

The only real question for Doug is money. Hed be looking at something like $5 million to mount a respectable challenge for the Conservative leadership.

He may not have that kind of bread at his disposal. He reportedly got out of municipal politics in the first place to attend to his familys sinking business fortunes, although he was able to raise a fair chunk of change on short notice when he took over Rob’s aborted run for mayor. Hed have to sell a lot of books.

There is also the issue of timing to consider. The Conservative leadership vote is May 2017, which doesn’t leave Doug a lot of time to mount a serious campaign for that job.

But Ford could get into the race to act as a stalking horse for, say, Leitch in Toronto. The guy running her campaign is Nick Kouvalis, the same cat who sold Ford Nation to the masses. If Doug can deliver votes in Toronto for Leitch’s leadership bid, it would set him up nicely for a rematch against John Tory. Only problem is Kouvalis was in Tory’s camp last time.

Its also too early for Ford to be announcing a mayoral run anytime soon. That race isnt until October 2018 and new rules have shortened the time to legally raise money. Ditto for the provincial race, which also won’t take place until 2018. And current Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown may not be inclined to sign Doug’s nomination papers.

All will be revealed eventually. Just don’t expect it come via a special announcement because, true to form, it’s not exactly clear how much of this Doug has clearly thought through, outside of keeping his name in the papers.

enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted