Obviously, Mayor Rob Ford can’t take a joke. Monday morning, when Marg Delahunty and the This Hour Has 22 Minutes crew staked out his Etobicoke home for an interview, Ford fled inside and called 911.
The mayor claimed afterwards he didn’t know who she was. Ouch. That must really piss off the folks at the CBC. In the past, Mary Walsh’s alter ego and her wise-ass roving reporter colleagues have ambushed politicians from all levels of government, who generally go along with the gag.
It’s part of, you know, being a Canadian, being a good sport.
And surely any Canadian would recognize the bizarrely made-up Delahunty, who was wearing her blood-red “Marg Princess Warrior” outfit when she tried to shove her mic in the mayor’s face.
Or maybe not. Maybe she’s the comedy equivalent of another Marg – Margaret Atwood. And we know how recognizable she is, right?
Likely the mayor just didn’t think it was in his job description to play along, the same way that, last week, he didn’t think he had to show up at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Luncheon.
I was at that event, along with many others involved in all aspects of the arts: creating them, writing about them, administering them, protecting them. And when we were told Ford wouldn’t be attending because of “urgent business,” you could hear groans throughout the room.
Was this a big fuck-you? An ominous sign that an axe was going to cut off future arts funding? Or were we just being paranoid?
“I am so sad Mayor Ford is not here to see all the amazing people we have in the Toronto arts community,” said Deborah Lundmark of the Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, winners of the Arts for Youth Award.
That got a big round of applause.
And what was that “urgent business,” anyway? Turns out he was coaching his football team – something that’s obviously not in his job description.
Surely, he could have shown up for 15 minutes to shake a few hands, meet some of tomorrow’s artists and say a few words.
I guess the joke was on us.
By the way, his football team clobbered the opposition.
glenns@nowtoronto.com
