Ford continues to be stripped of powers

It was another heated day at Toronto City Hall with Mayor Rob Ford at one point appearing to charge a heckler and knocking down a city councillor in the process. It all happened as Toronto City Council debated a motion that could reduce the Mayor to a figurehead and nothing else. And just before this newscast council voted overwhelmingly to hand many of Ford’s duties to the Deputy Mayor. Mayor Rob Ford called the council’s actions a “coup d’etat.’ Scot Urquhart has the details.

It started out calmly enough, although councillor Giorgio Mammoliti insisted that the motion to further limit the Mayor’s powers was insupportable: “I will not play part of this illegal meeting.”

Despite the objection, the meeting moved slowly forward, proposing to delegate all of the Mayor’s powers not covered by provincial statute, severely slashing his operating budget, and redirecting much of what remained, stripping the Mayor of his role as head of the executive council.

In the chamber, two lawyers representing Ford who were reportedly looking for grounds to sue the councillors that might vote in favour of the motion.

After repeated reassurance from the City’s own legal council that elected officials were facing no more risk than they would face with any other bit of city business, debate on the motion nudged forward again. That’s when councillor Doug Ford took the offensive: “This is not a democracy.”

At this point the Mayor decided to go for a stroll around the council chamber, greeting supporters and shaking hands.

And that’s when everything started to fall apart.

Toronto City Councillor Frances Nunziata: “10 minute recess. Shame, shame.”

Hecklers began to shout at the Ford Brothers from the gallery. Supporters and opponents went head to head in the public gallery.

And as the sharp heckling grew louder, the Mayor seemed to lose his cool. Ford charged towards the gallery like a middle linebacker, knocking councillor Pam McConnell flying as he went. She was unharmed but for the moment, the move to shackle the Mayor ground to a complete halt.

Mayor Ford’s decision to go glad-handing in the midst of this meeting was not uncalculated. The strategy seems to be that if you can’t win the debate, then divide, divert and disrupt, the proceedings. After all, delay is better than defeat.