Canadian politics has produced fewer larger than life figures than our neighbours to the south. In part that may simply be a result of the fact that we don't tend to mythologize our leaders as Americans do. We don't have a Mount Rushmore. A Canadian Prime Minister rarely uses Teddy Roosevelt's "Bully Pulpit" to the extent American Presidents do. Ronald Reagan often went on the airwaves to ask the citizens to call their Congressman if he wasn't getting his priorities through. A Prime Minister has no need to engage in such banal pursuits. The Right Honourable one can simply order his caucus to vote as he pleases.....no need to involve the citizens.
It is a little known fact that the person in Canada who has the largest direct voter mandate is in fact the Mayor of Toronto. The Prime Minister is merely a Member of Parliament representing one riding while the Mayor of Toronto is directly voted in by citizens of 22 Federal ridings. It is also not very well known that from a Constitutional standpoint, there is no such thing as a municipal level of Government. The City of Toronto is incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario.
Leaving small technicalities like the Constitution aside, it is a fact that more people vote directly for the Mayor of Toronto than any other office in the land. It is the current Mayor's race that has me more baffled and amused than any other recent election.
Councillor Rob Ford is the clear front runner. He is 11 points ahead of former Deputy Premier of Ontario George Smitherman....according to a poll released today. The mind boggles.
Now it must be said that the amalgamated mega city of Toronto has not been around very long. Toronto has had but two mayors. The first was Mel Lastman who made Toronto a laughing stock by calling in the army after a bad snowstorm and telling a reporter that he didn't want to go to Africa because he hates snakes and might end up in a boiling pot of water with natives dancing around. (If Lastman had spent any time in some of Toronto's parks, he might have seen snakes nearer to home).
After two terms of Mel Lastman's buffoonery (the fine citizens of Toronto re-elected him with 80% of the vote for a second term), the people turned to an American born, British raised Harvard graduate named David Miller. Mayor Miller was a very smart man whose standing as mayor was torpedoed after engaging the unions in a long garbage strike only to give in at the end. People understandably asked what the point of forcing the strike was when he just ended up backtracking anyway.
So now along comes Rob Ford with a record as a right winger in a left wing city. He had a DUI conviction which he was apparently not very forthcoming about. He allegedly had to stop coaching high school football after roughing up a player. He has stated that Toronto should not welcome any more immigrants. He has said that AIDS is preventable as long you don't do drugs and aren't gay.
Despite all of his bluster and revelations about his past, he continues to lead the field. I can't explain it.
Perhaps the people are tired of charming politicians who hide behind a facade. Perhaps they like the fact that a buffoonish Rob Ford is more of an average citizen than some other candidates. Perhaps they feel that he is so bad that he can't possibly be hiding something worse (nowhere to go but up?).
I don't really know how Rob Ford can be the frontrunner in this race. I am no longer a Toronto resident and as such I can't vote. If I could, I really don't know who amongst this sad lot I would vote for. Perhaps therein lies the answer? Perhaps a paucity of good candidates means that the people are choosing between various degrees of bad. How sad that the race for the largest direct voter mandate in Canada might be won by default.
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