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rfmcdonaldProminently featured on the front page of the Toronto Star is Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan's article "Rob Ford: ‘Intoxicated’ Toronto mayor asked to leave military ball", reporting that Toronto mayor Rob Ford was asked to leave the Toronto Garrison Ball on account of inebriation or some other medical issue, placing this in the context of an apparent pattern of binge drinking and reporting that a variety of problems including his dropping hours logged at work can be traced to this.
The article goes on to connect this to the mayor's ongoing issues, political and personal, claiming that his staff has made multiple efforts to get him into rehab but to no avail.
This report, coming so soon after Sarah Thomson's report of a drunken groping, fits into Ford's long history of inappropriate behaviour--the Huffington Post assembled a list. On Facebook, while there seems to be a certain amount of sympathy for Ford inasmuch as alcoholism is a disease reflecting significant mental anguish, there is little sentiment that a man facing his problems should be mayor of Canada's largest city.
The request to leave the Toronto Garrison Ball came two weeks before Sarah Thomson, a Toronto businesswoman and former mayoral candidate, created a media storm when she accused Ford of groping her while acting “out of it” at a Jewish political group’s event.
It’s an open secret at city hall that the mayor has battled alcohol abuse. Those closest to him are concerned for his health and the impact it has on his job as mayor of Canada’s largest city. Current and former staff have told the Star of repeated attempts to persuade the mayor to get help for more than two years and as recently as November. All attempts have been rebuffed.
The Garrison Ball is an annual dinner, attended by 800 soldiers, sailors, airforce personnel and civilians. The ball raised money for the well known Wounded Warriors charity. Billed as an evening of “pageantry and camaraderie,” the dinner was held on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Liberty Grand near Toronto’s waterfront.
Guests at the event included Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson, and Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison, the commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Ford arrived late to the cocktail and dinner event. He was speaking in a rambling, incoherent manner that alarmed some of the guests, according to organizers, military reservists and a prominent Ottawa conservative who were interviewed for this story. Toronto Councillor Paul Ainslie, a strong Ford ally, confirmed to the Star that Ford was asked to leave.
“I urged the mayor’s chief of staff, Mark Towhey, to have the mayor leave the event,” Ainslie said in an interview. Ainslie refused to discuss why Ford was asked to leave.
The article goes on to connect this to the mayor's ongoing issues, political and personal, claiming that his staff has made multiple efforts to get him into rehab but to no avail.
This report, coming so soon after Sarah Thomson's report of a drunken groping, fits into Ford's long history of inappropriate behaviour--the Huffington Post assembled a list. On Facebook, while there seems to be a certain amount of sympathy for Ford inasmuch as alcoholism is a disease reflecting significant mental anguish, there is little sentiment that a man facing his problems should be mayor of Canada's largest city.
