Wellesley Street East & Wellesley Place

Random and arbitrary carding by police forces across Ontario will be illegal by the end of fall.

Yasir Naqvi, minister of community safety and correctional services, made the announcement during a debate Thursday where MPPs from across the province spoke out against carding. At the time they were considering a private member’s motion from an NDP MPP to ban random and arbitrary carding, also known as street checks.

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Naqvi was asked what will happen if police forces do not comply with the ban or the other regulations his government will bring in.

“They will have no option but to comply with the regulation.”

I remember opining not long ago about what appears to be public theatre between police chief Blair and the Fords. As I recall, I speculated that it had something to do with propping each other up in the media, a backroom friendship publicly laid out for the media as animosity. The purpose is simply to boost each others’ profiles, something the Fords shamelessly pursue.

Now consider the most recent circumstances:

• Blair is retiring and not considering a run in politics. Even if this isn’t true, he’ll probably need to parlay his high profile into his next gig, whatever that happens to be. In other words: media attention=good.
• As late as yesterday, Blair and Doug were staring each other down over Doug’s slanderous comments. Despite extended threats of litigation and with no new developments in the intervening 16-ish hours, Blair does a 180 and says everything’s forgiven. Aww, shucks.
• Blair continues to look like a stalwart law-n-order guy, and the Fords continue to appear to be the poor, beaten-upon “common folks” to their seething, money-trumps-life supporters:

Against the backdrop of another big corporation taking the law into their own hands (where’s Blair big denouncement on corporate vigilantism?), we get the simultaneous news that one — yes, one 25-year-old person has been found guilty of “orchestrated” and “widespread” voter suppression (election fraud), by the Conservative party during the last election.

What did Harper have to say right after the scandal broke out? Oh yeah…

“Our party has no knowledge of these calls. It’s not part of our campaign,” Mr. Harper told reporters on Thursday. “Obviously, if there is anyone who has done anything wrong, we will expect that they will face the full consequences of the law.”

And that is, of course, why he immediately and deeply cut funding to Elections Canada (the people running the fraud investigation), and then introduced a new law making it harder for people to vote just like they’re doing in the US (because, of course, that was the problem).

You can be forgiven for forgetting the 2006 “money funneling” scam that Harper used to fraudulently take the previous election. Elections Canada investigator Ronald Lamothe described it at the time as, “entirely under the control of and at the direction of officials of the Conservative Fund Canada and/or the Conservative Party of Canada.” The Conservatives went so far as to admit guilt in that case — they eventually conceded to winning through fraud and blowing millions to first deny, then defend it all. 

No one was found guilty, the government paid itself a fine and announced a “big victory”, and we are told to believe that the Conservatives won a second majority, one so overwhelming that Harper is unopposed in government. Well, I guess there’s no problem then. Nothing to worry about!

Both Rob and Doug have been going all out in putting the blame primarily on the media for all of their current woes. While the stories become more and more outrageous, it would certainly seem that they’re being exaggerated were it not for the piles of corroborating evidence and the personal testimony of the mayor’s former staff.

True, I wasn’t there and I don’t know any of the people mentioned in the police reports. My closest personal interaction with off-the-cuff statements and public officials involved newly-appointed mayor Norm Kelly in a brief conversation he had with Sarah and me at a doctor’s office about six months ago — his wife was there to treat a recurring medical condition. It seemed like an odd thing to blurt out to what to Norm must have been just two random strangers; but not exactly scandal material.

For the most part, I can only depend on inference and corroborating documents in reaching my conclusions. But increasingly, and perhaps as a result of ramped-up public pressure, one or the other of the Ford brothers makes a public statement that makes inference entirely unnecessary.

The latest such statement came courtesy of Rob himself, the “I wanted to eat her pussy” admonition — the “her” being former Ford staffer Olivia Gondek to whom, it is claimed, Rob made the proclamation during one of his infamous drunken stupors. Despite mentioning this in a closing aside during a press conference  (“oh, and one more thing”), this will probably be traced by future historians as the statement that pushed Rob Ford over the edge.

Problem is, no one actually said this. The real alleged statements included:

“I’m going to eat you out”
“I banged your pussy”
“I’m going to eat your box”

Apparently Ford said this to not only Gondek but also a female security guard (the final quote), and if the reports are to be believed, this isn’t completely out of character:

xxx) Mayor FORD tried to hit-on a woman that was at the [subway] station which was unusual behaviour for him. He asked her out to dinner.

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eeee) Mayor FORD wanted to go to the Esplanade that night.

ffff) RANSOM described Alana as:

i)a female
ii) white,
iii) blonde hair,
iv) younger than RANSOM,
v) blue eyes,
vi) thin,
vii) petite and
viii) attractive.

gggg) RANSOM has a photo at home that he can provide to the police.

hhhh) Alana may have been an escort or prostitute. There have been rumors that Mayor FORD has used escorts or prostitutes. Alana has also been seen with Mayor FORD at a stag party. Alana approached PROVOST that night. This upset Mayor FORD because Alana recognized PROVOST. RANSOM thinks that Mayor FORD was upset because PROVOST was not being discreet about Alana. Alana didn’t seem intoxicated that night.

…

hhhh) Alana may have been an escort or prostitute. There have been rumors that Mayor FORD has used escorts or prostitutes. Alana has also been seen with Mayor FORD at a stag party. Alana approached PROVOST that night. This upset Mayor FORD because Alana recognized PROVOST. RANSOM thinks that Mayor FORD was upset because PROVOST was not being discreet about Alana. Alana didn’t seem intoxicated that night.

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nn) CHRISTOPOULOS had enough of dealing with the personal life of the Mayor. That was not his job.

oo) In the past women have come to the office and told staffers that they have smoked a joint with the Mayor on the street outside of the bar. These women were told by the Mayor that they could have a job. CHRISTOPOULOS would have to interview these women and try and talk them out of a job. These women would state that the Mayor provided the marihuana. One women’s names was “Blair”. They would be contacted by email. Apparently this woman had put a picture of her and the Mayor on Twitter and she was contacted by the Toronto Star asking questions. That is when she contacted the office of the Mayor. The emails may have come into the Mayor’s account in June to August of 2012.

What’s genuinely interesting to me is how Rob managed to conflate certain statements made to the police (while ignoring other and, to me, considerably more serious allegations), to create something that was ultimately much worse.

Had he used an actual quote, his on-camera statement probably wouldn’t have been as bad. Yeah, making public statements about eating out boxes (first thing on a Monday morning to boot), probably also would’ve gotten some cockeyed looks, but I think we all agree that the way that Rob Ford decided to phrase it was probably the worst possible way.

The fact that these allegations were made is secondary to Rob’s almost mythical ability to take bad situations and make them just that much worse. To date, neither Rob, his brother, or anyone else has thought to correct this error, but regardless of whether there was a “pussy” or a “box”, or some sort of combination of the two, this latest incident just further proves what Ford critics have been saying all along: the man doesn’t have the judgement to correctly string together a sentence let alone run a city.

In my mind, that alone is an excellent reason for cutting Ford off at the knees. Sound judgement is probably the top attribute required of Toronto’s mayor, and neither Rob nor Doug have shown that they have any.

It’s still pretty heavily redacted, but the Project Brazen document detailing the surveillance of Rob Ford and the parade of shady characters he cavorts with, originally released on October 31st, has been cleared for public release.

I’ve just started skimming it so I have no comments just yet, but I recommend you grab yourself a copy and peruse at your leisure: http://www.torontocitylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ford_Court_Documents_Nov13_2013.pdf

Rob Ford and his brother sure do hang out with some interesting people.

For example, Allesandro “Sandro” Lisi, friend of the Fords, occassional driver and bodyguard for Rob:

“Toronto police are investigating attempts by associates of Mayor Rob Ford to retrieve the crack cocaine video.

One target of the investigation is Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, 35, a Range Rover-driving Etobicoke man with a criminal history of threatening and assaulting women, who has been acting as an occasional driver and security guard for the mayor.”
Toronto Star, August 16, 2013

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“Alessandro (Sandro) Lisi, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s friend and occasional driver, has been charged with possession and trafficking of marijuana, police confirmed this morning.

Police have also charged Lisi, 35, with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and possession of the proceeds of crime.”
Huffington Post Canada, October 1, 2013

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“Calls mounted Tuesday for Mayor Rob Ford to address reports that he and his associates are under investigation by Toronto police, just as new allegations emerged about an attempt by Alexander Lisi to swap drugs for the mayor’s stolen cellphone.

Asked about the reports, a jubilant Mayor Ford, en route to council to debate the proposed Scarborough subway, emphatically shook his head and chanted: “Subways, subways, subways!””
National Post, October 8, 2013

Then there’s David Price, Ford’s buddy, financial adviser, former football coach, and ex-“director of logistics and operations” at City Hall (a position created specially for Price by Robbie):

“Just before news of the alleged crack video broke, Price was accompanying Ford at an Etobicoke community council meeting, where a controversial condo project was being discussed. Mid-meeting, Ford suddenly went to the parking lot to place magnets on parked cars.

When reporters began following Ford to ask why he had left the meeting, Ford answered a few questions before saying he would take no more. Price then physically blocked reporters from pursuing Ford, and scoffed at the suggestion from a reporter that Ford should be attending the meeting.

“He can do whatever he wants. Putting magnets on a community event — what do you expect him to be, up on stage?” Price said.”
Toronto Star, May 31, 2013

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“David Price, a senior staff member in Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s office, has been suspended after a phone call to a local newspaper.

The controversy comes in response to an exclusive CBC News story reporting that Price made repeated calls to Ford’s weekly radio show identifying himself only as “Dave” from various parts of the city.

The calls (there were at least six) would often praise Ford and his brother Coun. Doug Ford for their work at city hall. Price, a longtime friend of the Ford brothers, wasn’t on the mayor’s staff at the time the calls were made.”
CBC News, June 26, 2013

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“David Price, Mr. Ford’s director of operations and logistics, allegedly yelled at a transit employee and damaged a door at the Georgetown GO Transit station on Aug. 27, a source told The Globe.”
The Globe and Mail, September 19, 2013

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“Marc Surette, who owns the Trackside Cafe in the station, told the Toronto Sun Price missed a train that day and told the attendant to “fuck off” before slamming one of the stations wooden doors open, causing it to hit an outside ledge and crack. When Surette confronted Price about his behaviour, the Ford staffer replied: “Yeah, fuck you dickhead, what are you going to do about it?”

Price has not responded to a request for comment about the incident.

His boss, Mayor Ford, didn’t have much to say about the incident Thursday when he finally addressed it.

“It’s actually no one’s business what happens in my office,” Ford said after a press conference celebrating the one-year anniversary of his trade mission to Chicago. “I take care of the people that work for me and they do a great job, as you see.””
Toronto Sun, September 19, 2013

***

“Dave Price’s alleged hostile behaviour toward a female attendant and door-slamming has raised eyebrows at the normally quiet station, Surette said.

“He leaves you on edge when he comes in here,” Surette said. “The whole building goes quiet when that man walks in the door. It’s kind of crazy.”

Price has had at least two “major freak outs” in the past 10 months and at least four altercations with GO staff at the station because of his frustration over Metrolinx’s Presto card.

“I think he’s had two really big freak outs before this but also some smaller exchanges as well where he just gets loud and obnoxious with the attendant,” Surette said.”
Toronto Sun, September 19, 2013

Let’s not forget Gene Jones, personally appointed by Ford to replace then-TCHC (Toronto Community Housing Corp.) head Keiko Nakamura:

“And Mr. Ford said while he’s gratified the seven unelected board members took his hint and have left, he’d like to see the rest of the housing corporation’s leadership do the same. He hopes to have a brand new board up and running “probably within a month or so.”

“I’m glad that they’ve resigned. Now we can move forward,” he said. “We’re going to get this board back on its feet and restore the trust.”

The city’s auditor-general, Jeff Griffiths, whose reports found “pervasive” violations of the housing corporation’s own policies when it came to awarding contracts, is none too pleased himself. He said in a presentation to the TCHC’s board the flagrant disregard for spending policy was among the worst he’s seen in years.”
The Globe and Mail, March 3, 2011

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“Mayor Rob Ford is sticking by Toronto Community Housing CEO Gene Jones  following a new report that claims the CEO is being investigated for his hiring  practices.

“He’s come in. He’s cleaned house. He’s done what he has to do. I support him  100 per cent,” Ford told reporters after touring a TCHC building at 3101 Weston  Rd. Wednesday. “So if people want to take shots at him, I’m gonna stick up for  him.”

A report Wednesday in the Toronto Star says city ombudsman Fiona Crean is  investigating complaints that Jones hired and promoted managers without allowing  other staff to compete for the jobs.”
CP24, September 18, 2013

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“Ford urged the TCHC to investigate any possible corruption and fully backed CEO Gene Jones in the wake of news the corporation has a forensic accounting investigation underway into dealings with its subsidiary companies — HSI and 200 Wellesley St. E. —  that was spawned out of the forensic audit ordered by the board last spring.”
Toronto Sun, September 18, 2013

***

“While Mr. Ford attends to tales of leaky fridges, foul garbage chutes and hearing aids that have fallen down the drain, the city’s massive housing agency continues to be dogged by controversy.

Outside the 18-storey tower, the man hired more than a year ago to turn around the Toronto Community Housing Corp. tells reporters to expect more bad news after revelations on Wednesday that the organization is investigating yet more allegations of wrong-doing.

“There may be more,” TCH head Gene Jones said. “Hopefully not, but I’m pretty sure there will be.””
The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2013

And then there’s Payman Aboodowleh, a.k.a. Peter Payman, a.k.a. Pejman Aboodowleh, personally recruited by Ford to coach his beloved Don Bosco Eagles high school football team:

“Peter Payman was identified in game programs as a coach for Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School’s football team until the end of last season. But years before he joined the mayor on the sidelines, that same man served as an enforcer for Alessandro “Sandro” Lisi, one of the key figures in the illegal drug scandal that has dogged Mr. Ford’s administration, The Globe and Mail has learned.

…

Although he is called Peter Payman in the school’s football literature, his real name is Payman Aboodowleh, a 38-year-old who has a history of violent crimes, including assaulting a peace officer, assaulting his brother and breaking and entering.

But Mr. Aboodowleh’s violent history was not revealed to administrators in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which says it was supplied a false name for his police records check, a requirement for anyone who volunteers in the board’s schools.

…

Mr. Aboodowleh also started the 2011 season as a coach and at that time also submitted a criminal records check application form, the board and police say. This time, however, his real name was provided, but before his background check was completed by the Toronto Police Service, he was asked to leave the team by the then principal because of a “nose-to-nose altercation” with a player at practice, Mr. Yan said. (Mr. Aboodowleh’s return to the team the next season was requested by the mayor, Mr. Yan said.)

Even if that 2011 reference check had been completed, it likely would not have turned up some of Mr. Aboodowleh’s recent convictions, such as his 2009 conviction for assaulting a peace officer and dangerous driving. That’s because he has yet another alias – Pejman Aboodowleh – that he has used during some of his interactions with law enforcement. That name happens to be the former name of Mr. Aboodowleh’s younger brother who was forced to legally change his name in 2003, two sources say, because his older brother Payman’s use of his younger sibling’s identity during encounters with police.”
The Globe and Mail, October 9, 2013

And these are just a few in a long line of characters who interact with Rob and Doug regularly, have unprecedented access to City Hall and undue influence over the mayor and his brother, and are presumably just the type of straight-shooting, honest, stand-up folks that the Fords and their “Nation” insist on. The trend is, after all, is hard to miss:

“As an Etobicoke dry cleaner under a cloud of drug charges sought to reassemble his ransacked shop and life, a Toronto police source confirmed that a special detail of investigators is indeed probing Mayor Rob Ford.

The squad, led by accomplished homicide Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux, has also been delving into the affairs of the mayor’s associates, leading to this week’s arrest of his friend and sometimes driver, Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, for trafficking of marijuana, conspiracy to traffic, marijuana possession and possession of proceeds of crime.

Jamshid Bahrami was also rounded up in the same police operation that unfurled in a well-travelled plaza near Eglinton and Kipling avenues on Tuesday.”
National Post, October 4, 2013

***

“He [Rob Ford] talks about his sister, complaining, “the media never got it straight.”

How’s this for an explanation: “The killer wasn’t her ex-husband, it was an old boyfriend.”

As Ford tells it, Kathy Ford’s first boyfriend was Mike, before she married Jeff and had a daughter.

After divorcing Jeff, she lived six years with Ennio, bearing a son. She left Ennio and went back to Mike, and they rented a cottage up north.

Ford: In 1998, “from what I was told (by the kids), Ennio knocked on the cottage door and Mike answered it and Ennio shot him in the head” with a sawed-off shotgun. Charges were laid; Ennio went to prison for manslaughter.

In 2005, Ford says someone else “shot the top of her head off.” Press reports suggest it was an accident; two men were charged with firearms-related offences.

She’s functioning well, he says, living with her two children and on methadone for her heroin addiction.”
Toronto Star, April 21, 2010

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“Mayor Rob Ford’s former brother-in-law, Ennio Stirpe, glared at a judge and cursed after hearing he had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a knife attack that blinded a Vaughan woman in one eye.

He muttered the curse out of Justice Michelle Fuerst’s hearing range in Newmarket court on Friday.

…

Fuerst also ordered Stirpe to complete a manslaughter prison term for the 1998 shotgun slaying of the boyfriend of Ford’s sister, Kathy.

Stirpe was on parole at the time of the October 2008 knife attack in his basement apartment.”
Toronto Star, March 16, 2012

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“As questions mount over why police are investigating the city’s mayor, Rob Ford’s brother on Monday said he was “mistaken” to have suggested police were conducting aerial surveillance on the family home in Etobicoke.

While Mayor Ford has yet to address revelations that he and his associates are the targets of a Toronto police investigation, Councillor Ford last week substantiated reports that a Cessna aircraft was used to track the mayor, telling the Toronto Sun he saw the plane over his mother’s home for five straight days in August. He said he “gave them the finger” and later called police, who told him the plane was related to an airport bust, but he did not believe them. “You know when a plane is surveilling you,” Councillor Ford told the Sun.”
National Post, October 7, 2013

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“Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s brother, sold hashish for several years in the 1980s. Another brother, Randy, was also involved in the drug trade and was once charged in relation to a drug-related kidnapping. Their sister, Kathy, has been the victim of drug-related gun violence.”
The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2013

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“Consider what we have been told in media reports over the past four months. That an infamous photograph of the mayor that emerged with the alleged drug video was taken at a house occupied by a long-time friend of Mr. Ford, Fabio Basso, who has had brushes with the law.

That one of the men in that photo has been murdered and two others rounded up by police in a drugs-and-guns raid. That Mr. Ford tried to visit another friend who has been in trouble with the law, Bruno Bellissimo, at a Toronto jail. Sources told The Globe and Mail that police have interviewed members of the mayor’s staff about people including Mr. Lisi, and attempts to retrieve the alleged drug video.”
The Globe and Mail, October 3, 2013

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“Doug Ford says that he does not believe the Toronto Star journalists who wrote about an internal police document describing the origin of a police investigation involving his brother, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and some of his associates.

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Doug Ford said he believes the police, but not the Star reporters who cited the police document. He also said he is concerned that the police leaked the document, then quickly said he doesn’t think the police did so.”
Toronto Star, October 8, 2013

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“Reporter: Is your brother under investigation? Isn’t that something you want to know?

Doug Ford: I think that’s up to the police chief to make his comments, but again I support the police but I’m very concerned; it’s very disturbing if the police are breaking the law, which I don’t believe they are for a second. That’s why I question Kevin Donovan and the Toronto Star.

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Doug Ford: I support any investigation that took place. I support the police investigation. I support the police. That’s it. I just hope the police aren’t working hand in hand with the Toronto Star. That’s it.”
Toronto Star, October 8, 2013

Because we have over spent in the past…:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110530/toronto-police-layoffs-possible-110530/20110530?hub=TorontoNewHome&utm_source=torontocitylife

Between the vagaries of my web development work and daily life — “minor” updates to glade.ca that turned so easily into a complete three-week site overhaul, that challenging Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign, endless TD Canada Trust banners, assorted Purolator stuff, birthdays, and a visit to Canada’s Wonderland (Behemoth is pretty kick-ass, I must say ), I’ve hardly had room to swing a cat through my schedule.

Just as well – Ollie probably wouldn’t have taken well to it.

I finally managed to convince one of the agencies I work with that the term “independent contractor” isn’t merely a figure of speech (that and the liberal use of the term “employee” – why do I keep running into this?!), so I was looking forward to doing some work from home and mixing in healthy doses of blogging. But fate, being the filthy whore she is, pulled another steamy week out of her ass.

That window fan I’ve had going non-stop for about three months now has simply been circulating oven-like heat throughout my living room, over the exposed chassis of my computer and two surprisingly warm monitors (programming with just one monitor is a sort of punishment), and right back at my puffy, bloated face. Oh yeah, and it’s allergy season again.

Anyhow, I finally ran out of excuses tonight and took it to the streets.

… Continue Reading