In response to Karen Stintz’ accusation that Rob Ford ain’t doing his job, his office sent back a tersely worded response:

“There is no lack of leadership from the Mayor.”

Not what Stintz said, but given the collective capacity for comprehension behind Ford Nation, let’s just say close enough.

Except that Ford did’t write or send the response, he got one of his lackeys (George Christopoulos), to do it. In fact, there’s no indication that Rob Ford was involved in anything to do with the situation.

To be fair, he was probably busy clearing his schedule in order to personally respond to each constituent’s phone call (as every mayor of every large metropolitan area should) — a conservative estimate of 300,000 calls a year, or 820 calls per day — and delegated this lowly task to Christopoulos. Or maybe he was coaching football. Whatever. Clearly Ford showed leadership and world-class initiative, and got right out in front of the issue.

On Newstalk 1010’s RoDoFo (Rob/Doug/Ford), radio show on Sunday afternoon, Rob said he’d like to see more women in politics, and if any of yous dames out there are interested, to call him at home or meet him over coffee and he’ll tell you all about how City Hall works.

Yes, the man who repeatedly admitted he doesn’t know how to do his job is going to tell you all about how to do his job.

Don’t worry, those allegations of him beating his wife a few years back were never proven, I’m pretty sure he’s over grabbing women’s asses by now, and the fact that women are leaving his own hand-picked executive committee left right and centre shouldn’t be read into too deeply.

Just imagine the kind of intellectual treasure trove you’ll be able to tap into!

Remember all the screaming Rob Ford did about respecting taxpayers, demanding open and transparent government?

Yeah, the same “respect for taxpayers” that has Rob Ford continuously covering up his budgets, his meetings, his schedule, and basically anything else having to do with his job. Well, you gotta give it to the man, he’s consistent in his bullshit.

Take yesterday, for example, in a photo op with Pan Am Games organizers. That event was marked by an abject refusal of the Pan Am people to say how much they’re going to spend on a mascot; one of those shining examples of potentially massive waste and secrecy that Ford vowed to fight tirelessly against.

So how is Rob Ford fighting this “gravy”? He shook hands with the organizers for the cameras and walked away without uttering a word or showing a shred of concern.

Let’s be fair here: maybe Rob’s control over the situation is very limited. Maybe the Pan Am Games group is separate from City Hall administration and mostly out of Ford’s hands. That would certainly help to explain Rob’s impotence, but it proves directly how two-faced the mayor is about his outrage for  secret deals and unaccountable government. The guy couldn’t even be bothered to raise an eyebrow.

I’m thinking that a book of such events would now have enough material to fill more than a few pages; something with a title along the lines of, “Heritage of Hypocrisy and Lies: The Ford Years”

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In a muted, almost non-existent news item in the Star yesterday, it was revealed that Rob Ford, in similar fashion, handed over a cheque for $400 to compensate the city for his use of city property. In other words, Ford tacitly admitted to improperly using city resources for his football foundation.

When it was first suggested to Ford that this is exactly what he was doing, he replied with, “The car that I paid for, right? Do your homework. I paid for it last year.”

Sure you did, Robbie — that’s why you paid for it again this year, right? Does your idiot Ford Nation also willingly pay twice for stuff that they claimed they didn’t have to pay for at all? Any more intelligence or “honesty” you want to share with us?

Of course, defending Ford in court against all comers is what Alan Lenczner does, so the fact that he’s still going to bat for Rob Ford and trying to prevent a re-opening of the successful appeal that got the mayor off of his conflict of interest charge shouldn’t come as a great surprise.

Lenczer’s ongoing defense of Ford is so expected that I wouldn’t even have mentioned it, except for the fact that the lawyer decided to put forth his reasoning for not holding public officials to account:

On the issue of national importance [required for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court], Lenczner said it was “incomprehensible” that Ford’s lawsuit be lumped in with cases like that of contractor “Monsieur Troittoir” in Montreal, or to members of the Senate in Canada.

“The allegations in Montreal are of conspiracy, bribery and corruption. The allegations against certain members of the Senate are of claiming reimbursement for improper expenses. In this case… (Justice Charles Hackland found) ‘there was absolutely no corruption or pecuniary gain on the respondent’s part.’”

So much so, in fact, that he’s going to make it an election issue — unions (that support a casino) are awesome!

Doug Ford says he regrets hiring Karen Stintz for the TTC chair role:

… the biggest mistake we ever did was put her in the TTC.

We? You mean the royal “we”, as in “we, the Most Gracious and Fecund Robert Bruce Ford, do thus proclaim!”? Maybe “we” as in Rob Ford ain’t runnin’ shit?

I don’t like the sound of either.

Option one, that’s just a living nightmare. Perish the thought.

Option two, that’s a hand up the ass, meaning there’s a not-so-secret shadow government trying to run things. The man with the brownest hand, at least to the public, is Rob’s own brother. Gross.

I’m not going to go back through the blog to re-hash some of Giorgio Mammoliti’s past, erm, weirdness, but maybe there was something buggy going on with his brain? It was revealed today that he had to have preventive brain surgery to “disconnect” a potentially clotting mesh of blood vessels in his head, so that could certainly be a possibility. Here’s hoping he recovers!

…sometimes someone hears you.

An Open Letter to Canadians

RBC has been in the news this week in a way no company ever wants to be.

The recent debate about an outsourcing arrangement for some technology services has raised important questions.

While we are compliant with the regulations, the debate has been about something else. The question for many people is not about doing only what the rules require – it’s about doing what employees, clients, shareholders and Canadians expect of RBC. And that’s something we take very much to heart.

Despite our best efforts, we don’t always meet everyone’s expectations, and when we get it wrong you are quick to tell us. You have my assurance that I’m listening and we are making the following commitments.

First, I want to apologize to the employees affected by this outsourcing arrangement as we should have been more sensitive and helpful to them. All will be offered comparable job opportunities within the bank.

Second, we are reviewing our supplier arrangements and policies with a continued focus on Canadian jobs and prosperity, balancing our desire to be both a successful business and a leading corporate citizen.

Third, our Canadian client call centres are located in Canada and support our domestic and our U.S. business, and they will remain in Canada.

Fourth, we are preparing a new initiative aimed at helping young people gain an important first work experience in our company, which we will announce in the weeks ahead.

RBC proudly employs over 57,000 people in Canada. Over the last four years, despite a challenging global economy, we added almost 3,000 full-time jobs in Canada. We also hire over 2,000 youth in Canada each year and we support thousands more jobs through the purchases we make from Canadian suppliers. As we continue to grow, so will the number of jobs for Canadians.

RBC opened for business in 1864 and we have worked hard since then to earn the confidence and support of the community. Today, we remain every bit as committed to earning the right to be our clients’ first choice, providing rewarding careers for our employees, delivering returns to shareholders who invest with us, and supporting the communities in which we are privileged to operate.

I’d like to close by thanking our employees, clients, shareholders and community partners for your input and continued support.

Sincerely,

Gord Nixon
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Royal Bank of Canada

http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/2013/0411-rbc-statement.html

I honestly didn’t expect there to be a second part to this saga, but here we are.

In the first part I did some basic math to show that the new EI measures implemented by the Harper government are designed to eventually impoverish anyone who uses the system to supplement slow times in their industry (seasonal workers, construction workers, etc.)

Now it’s been revealed that on top of this measure, the appeals process has been taken in-house so that if you have a problem, who do you complain to? The people who caused it.

The government policing itself? Well that doesn’t sound like it could possibly  have any issues. In fact, it should be so easy that they shouldn’t even need so many people to make it happen.