{"id":17033,"date":"2011-01-04T13:50:50","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=17033"},"modified":"2011-01-04T13:50:50","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:50:50","slug":"lorinc-when-will-reality-bite-ford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/04\/lorinc-when-will-reality-bite-ford\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: When will reality bite Ford?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At some point in the year to come, reality will jump up and bite Mayor Rob Ford on the nose, forcing him to depart from his tightly-scripted waste \u2018n subways agenda. Of course, I have no idea what form his encounter with the untidy world of urban politics will take. But that moment of reckoning is lurking out there, waiting to mug him and his merry band of gravy-fighting conservatives.<\/p>\n

That inevitable crisis will give us all a much crisper sense of Ford\u2019s ability to lead — certainly far more than we know now, based only on the size of his mandate and then his much-touted hat-trick during council\u2019s inaugural session.<\/p>\n

Indeed, anyone who watched the election knows Ford can stay on message. But the curve-ball dilemmas of governing call for skills other than campaign-style discipline and spin. Yet it remains to be seen whether our strikingly cosseted mayor \u2013 he of the three-minute scrums \u2013 can think on his feet, respond to unforeseen events in meaningful ways, and perhaps even allow for errors in judgment.<\/p>\n

There are many instructive examples about the ways in which governments and leaders grow in office (or not) when confronted with crisis:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2022 The reckless bureaucratic downsizing in the ministry of the environment was implicated in the Walkerton water contamination disaster, which ultimately left Mike Harris\u2019s Progressive Conservatives contrite and politically vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u2022 After the Toronto Star revealed wide-spread rodent infestation in Toronto restaurants, Mayor Mel Lastman gave his medical officer of health carte blanche to implement a tough new inspection system designed to, uh, ferret out dirty operators \u2013 a long over-due reform the mayor would never have considered otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The looming debt crisis facing Ottawa in the early 1990s forced Jean Chretien\u2019s Liberals to take drastic measures to eliminate the federal deficit \u2013 a controversial reform the Grits never supported previously. More recently, when the global financial crisis threatened to destroy Canada\u2019s economy, Stephen Harper\u2019s Tories, facing intense pressure from business economists and the opposition, reversed long-standing fiscal policies and enacted a massive stimulus program.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Closer to home, gun-related homicides early in David Miller\u2019s first term pushed him to acknowledge that some parts of the city were anything but safe — a reversal that ran counter to his upbeat campaign rhetoric and ultimately led to the establishment of community safety policies targeting priority neighbourhoods.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, Miller\u2019s chilly initiation occurred when he failed to publicly express his sympathy to the mother of a young shooting victim. Stung by the criticism, he seemed to learn from the experience, as became evident when the city and the police didn\u2019t flinch in the face of the wave of gang-related shootings in 2006. Such episodes also pushed Miller and his council to alter the way the City delivers services and policing to low-income\/high-crime suburban neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

Confronted with the inevitable catastrophe, will Ford, like his predecessors, reveal an ability to grow and mature in this most demanding of jobs?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a controversial question among progressives. Some absolutely want him to fail, and fail quickly, so voters will recognize the folly of their collective choices and prevent him from inflicting lasting damage on the city and its operations.<\/p>\n

But I must confess some ambivalence on this point. In my view, large tracts of Ford\u2019s political agenda are unrealistic, ill-considered and intentionally divisive. At the same time, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s good for the health of the city to see a mayor go down in flames, either due to council gridlock, or in response to external events.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather that Ford find within himself not just the ability to make common cause with his rivals (and they, him), but also the capacity to understand that Toronto\u2019s story is much more complicated than a Punch-and-Judy show.<\/p>\n

photo by Scott Snider<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At some point in the year to come, reality will jump up and bite Mayor Rob Ford on the nose, forcing him to depart from his tightly-scripted waste \u2018n subways agenda. Of course, I have no idea what form his encounter with the untidy world of urban politics will take. But that moment of reckoningContinue reading “LORINC: When will reality bite Ford?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[457,425,1174,12521,12523,426,2643,551,1529,346,227,7893,2092,16812,19,341],"class_list":["post-17033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-canada","tag-david-miller","tag-ford","tag-jean-chretien","tag-liberals","tag-mayor","tag-medical-officer","tag-mel-lastman","tag-mike-harris","tag-ottawa","tag-rob-ford","tag-scott-snider","tag-stephen-harper","tag-strikingly-cosseted-mayor","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: When will reality bite Ford? - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/04\/lorinc-when-will-reality-bite-ford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: When will reality bite Ford? - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At some point in the year to come, reality will jump up and bite Mayor Rob Ford on the nose, forcing him to depart from his tightly-scripted waste \u2018n subways agenda. 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