[URBAN NOTE] Two links on the brothers Ford in Toronto

[rfmcdonald]

First, from CBC comes "Rob Ford continues protest against rainbow flag at city hall". Apparently supporting gay Russians is incompatible with supporting the Olympics.

Mayor Rob Ford says he's done everything he can to get a rainbow flag supporting gay rights taken down from Toronto's City Hall.

"The bottom line is, again, this is about the Olympics, this is about supporting our athletes," said Ford outside his office on Tuesday.

"I've done everything I can to get the Canadian flag back up," he said.

The rainbow flag was raised to coincide with the Opening Ceremony at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It is a protest of the anti-gay laws in that country, and a show of support LGBT Russians.

[. . .]

There is currently a Canadian flag flying at Toronto City Hall, as is required by the city's flag protocols. The rainbow flag is flying to the east of the clamshell-like building, where an auxiliary Canadian flag usually flies. Community groups can request to have flags raised on that pole from time-to-time.

Ford said he has written to the city manager to get the flag removed, but there is nothing he can do because it is a matter of protocol. The 519 Church Street Community Centre made a request to fly the flag outside city hall for the duration of the Olympics. The mayor has no authority to remove it.

Next comes NOW Toronto's Ben Spurr reporting on a small protest held by some Torontonians outside the mayor's office this morning, wondering where he was.

A group of a half dozen women and middle school kids spent the morning at City Hall, holding signs proclaiming "We are more than just taxpayers" and "Respect Diversity." They said they were there to send the message that Ford's bad behaviour is setting a poor example for the young people of the city.

The mayor was not at his office but his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, popped by late in the morning and was confronted by the group.

[. . .]

Doug told the media he didn't know where his brother was Tuesday morning. When a reporter asked why the mayor still refuses to make his schedule public, the councillor told her, "I don't think you have the moral authority to ask what the mayor's doing."

After he left, protester Jay MacGillivray said he had been "disrespectful" by refusing to speak directly to the children. She rejected the Fords' plea - recently made on their new Youtube channel - to judge the mayor on his fiscal record instead of his well-documented substance abuse issues.

[. . .]

The mayor arrived at his office around 12:30 p.m., but by that time the protesters had already left. His spokesperson said he had spent the morning touring a Toronto Community Housing building in the Victoria Park and St. Clair neighbourhood.