By Barry Ellsworth
TORONTO
The scandal-plagued Ford era came to an end in Toronto on Monday when John Tory defeated Doug Ford to take over as the city’s top politician.
But out-going mayor Rob Ford vowed a comeback in 2018.
“I guarantee: In four more years, you’re going to see another example of the Ford family never giving up,” Rob Ford told reporters after the results of the municipal election were known. “We’re just warming up.”
Others were elated at the news that the notorious crack-smoking, foul-mouthed, drunken exploits of the city’s chief magistrate were over.
“Hallelujah,” was the response of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne when reporters told her Tory won the election, according to the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper. Wynne is currently on a trade mission to China.
When Rob Ford was diagnosed with cancer about five weeks before the Oct. 27 election and had to undergo chemotherapy, he abandoned his bid for a second term as mayor of the fourth largest city in North America. His brother Doug took his place in the race.
In what was probably the most watched mayoral race in Canadian history, Rob ran as a councilor in his old Ward 2 and won easily. He represented the ward from 2000 to 2008, when he ran and won as mayor.
During his tenure at the top, Toronto was buffeted by controversy again and again as videos of the mayor smoking crack and making lewd and racial remarks surfaced. He was drunk in public on several occasions and in the year leading up to Monday’s election he was basically stripped of his powers by the city council, but hung on to the title of mayor.
His behavior garnered embarrassing headlines around the world.
Last summer, he entered rehab and emerged defiant as ever, announcing he would seek re-election despite the controversies.
The cancer discovery put a stop to that and his brother stepped in to take his place, but couldn’t win over a majority of the voters.
To get a sense of just how much this election meant, one need only look at the voter turnout. It was the largest in decades, with more than 1 million voters, about 60 percent of the 1.62 million eligible voters casting a ballot, the National Post reported.
Tory received 40 percent of the vote, defeating Doug Ford by 6 percent, or 64,000 votes, Toronto media reported.
Tory is a former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party.
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