UPDATE | Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford dies after fighting cancer
TORONTO (AP) — Rob Ford, the pugnacious, populist former mayor of Toronto whose career crashed in a drug-driven, obscenity-laced debacle, died Tuesday after fighting cancer, his family said. He was 46.
Ford rode into office on a backlash against urban elites. He cast an image sharply at odds with Canada’s reputation for sedate, unpretentious politics. His tenure as mayor of the country’s largest city was marred by revelations about his drinking problems and illegal drug use. He was repeatedly videotaped and photographed while intoxicated in public.
Nevertheless, after losing that office he was later elected by a landslide to a City Council seat, a job he held until his death.
One after another, his statements and actions became nightly fodder for TV comedians and an embarrassment to many of the suburbanites he championed. Among the more notable:
• Knocking over a 63-year-old female city councilor while rushing to the defense of his brother, Councilor Doug Ford, who was insulting spectators in the council chamber.
• Threatening “murder” in a profane, incoherent rant captured by video.
• Swearing and slurring his words, calling the police chief a derogatory name and trying to imitate a Jamaican accent in a different video.
But his popularity continued. Even after a scandal broke about Ford’s use of crack, hundreds of people lined up for bobblehead dolls of the mayor, signed by Ford himself. Ford spent countless hours taking pictures with residents eager to be photographed with an international celebrity.
As he sought a second term as mayor in 2014, Ford was diagnosed with a rare cancer just two months before the election date. Malignant liposarcoma in his abdomen forced him to do what months of scandals could not — drop his bid for re-election. He underwent a series of aggressive chemotherapy treatments.
“With heavy hearts and profound sadness, the Ford family announces the passing of their beloved son, brother, husband, and father, Councillor Rob Ford, earlier today at the age of 46,” a statement from his family said Tuesday. “A dedicated man of the people, Councillor Ford spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto.”
When Ford was elected mayor in 2010, his bluster was widely known. A plurality of voters backed him, eager to shake things up at a City Hall they viewed as elitist and wasteful. Ford’s voter base resided mainly in the outer suburbs, a result of the Conservative provincial government’s decision to force liberal Toronto to merge with five of its neighboring municipalities in 1998, creating a mega-city that now has 2.7 million residents.
Ford appealed to conservative-leaning, working-class suburban residents with his populist, common-man touch and with promises to slash spending, cut taxes and end what he called “the war on the car.” He first won as mayor by promising to “stop the gravy train” of government spending.