If Toronto
had a normal mayor, we might be able to write a script of what will happen now
that Gawker and the Toronto Star have reported seeing a video of someone who looks like Rob Ford smoking something
that looks like crack cocaine.
If the
allegations are false, Ford would offer evidence—or at least an argument—why
what the reporters thought they saw isn’t what they saw; he’d quickly correct
these incorrect perceptions. If the allegations are true, Hollywood has
prepared us to expect a remorseful resignation and a stint in rehab.
But Toronto
does not have a normal mayor and, based on past experience, it seems entirely
possible that Rob Ford’s simple “ridiculous” dismissal (What’s ridiculous? The allegations? His
crack use? That people care? The fundraising campaign to buy the video? The fact that, accused of calling Liberal leader Justin Trudeau a "fag," he was going to take refuge in a ceremony commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia?) might
be his last word on the subject. His critics at Toronto City Council has not
yet found the wherewithal to leverage Ford’s private shenanigans in the
political sphere—even Rob Ford’s legal/judicial shenanigans have done little to
erode his voter base. There’s no reason to think his opponents—and even his more nervous supporters—will be more capable this
time.
But what
about Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, where Ford coaches football? Just because city councillors should be expected
to work with a colleague who might have a substance abuse problem doesn’t mean
the parents of high school students should tolerate their kids being exposed to
such a controversial figure. Adults working with minors should always be held
to a higher standard.
And so I predict
that Don Bosco is where Rob Ford’s epically bizarre mayoral rule might start to
unravel. Can the high school principal leave these allegations uninvestigated—that
its football coach might be using illegal drugs and, while doing so, might be
belittling the team’s players? I don’t think so. Even if city council has
learned to work around Rob Ford’s erratic behaviour, a high school principal
should not. While there may never be enough evidence against Rob Ford for
criminal charges based on the alleged video, there might already be enough
evidence to ask him to resign as football coach. No matter how great a coach he
is, the toxicity of the allegations—and his failure to address them—are much
too damning. Any serious educator knows exactly what has to happen next.
Is this a
side note to a larger political scandal? Considering how much time Ford spends on
the football field—and considering the footballers he surrounds himself with at
City Hall—the loss of his position as football coach might be a far bigger
reality check than anything that could happen to him in his role of mayor.
If Toronto
wants Ford to seriously deal with the allegations in the Gawker and Toronto Star
stories, the issue will have to be raised in the principal’s office, not the
council chambers.
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