Advocate Jan 2014

12 VOL. 72 PART 1 JANUARY 2014
THE ADVOCATE
• 36–6 to transfer many of Ford’s deputies and budget to the deputy
mayor.
• 32–10 to decree that Ford could no longer set key matters on the
legislative agenda.
Ford immediately vowed an all-out “war” against his fellow councillors
and promised to launch a legal challenge to council’s actions (yet to materialize
at the time of writing). In particular, he invoked militaristic language
to complain that the city council was undermining the very core of democracy
itself:
Folks, this is nothing more, this is nothing more than a coup d’état and if
you don’t know what a coup d’état means, it means that you are overruling
a government. And some people said: “this is democracy.” What’s
happening here today is not a democratic process, this is a dictatorship
process … This, folks, reminds me of when I was watching with my
brother when Saddam [Hussein] attacked Kuwait and President [George
H.W.] Bush said, “I warn you, I warn you, I warn you, do not.”
Well folks, if you think American-style politics is nasty you guys have
just attacked Kuwait. You will never see something, mark my words
friends, this is going to be outright war in the next election and I’m going
to do everything in my power to beat you guys. And I have no sympathy.
What you’re doing to me is kicking me out of my office and it is the
worst thing you can do, I was elected by the people. Am I mad? You’re
absolutely right I’m mad because every one of you guys have sinned and
it is absolutely the worst thing you can do for democracy in the City of
Toronto.
What goes around comes around friends, remember what I am saying.
So which was it, a coup d’état or an unprovoked invasion of a neighbouring
country? Ford’s metaphors were as mixed as his drinks (his apparent
cocktail of choice being vodka and Gatorade). Moreover, these two metaphors
for Ford’s plight could scarcely be more inappropriate. A coup d’état is
literally a blow against the state. It typically involves the use of the military
by a minority group within the existing state establishment to depose the
government in power. The invasion of Kuwait, on the other hand, was the
unprovoked intrusion by one nation state against the sovereignty of the
other. So, was Ford saying he was a government overthrown by an unauthorized
military or a sovereign entity overthrown by a foreign force? Did he
seriously perceive the city councillors as being equivalent to Saddam Hussein
or his regime? If he is Kuwait 23 years ago, who is going to play George
H.W. Bush in the movie version of Ford’s life?
While Ford’s ego may have no apparent borders, Ford is not a sovereign
state. He is the mayor of a city, a creature of provincial statute. The City of
Toronto Act, 2006, 2 sets out that the “City of Toronto exists for the purpose of