I make no secret of the fact that I intensely dislike Rob Ford. If it were simply a matter of concern for his substance abuse issues, I could cut the man some slack. After all, other office holders have struggled with substance abuse issues while discharging their duties without difficulty. Sir John A. MacDonald and Sir Winston Churchill come to mind. No, for me, the issue is his politics. He is a hard-right ideologue. Worse: he is a hard-right ideologue who appears incapable of either articulating or defending his politics. The best he can do is mutter garbled versions of talking points lifted from the Tea Party play book, which, to be blunt, is irrelevant to local municipal politics in Canada and has no fucking business infecting our country’s public discourse.
Never has a Canadian political figure provoked such ire from his constituency and this has played itself out in public protest. This is especially true during Pride events. Ford has made it quite plain that he hates gays and wants nothing to do with gay constituents. It has also played itself out in street art. Ironic, given that when first elected he declared a war on graffiti and has subsequently been unable to keep up with all the graffiti directed at him personally.
