They live in social housing. They live in Lawrence Park. They hate gridlock and what they see as profligate spending at city hall. Their politics are left, centre and right. But they have one thing in common: They plan to vote for Rob Ford, the candidate plenty of Torontonians love to hate.
Based on his mayoral campaign so far – and setting aside for a moment his antics as councillor for Ward 2 Etobicoke North – Mr. Ford seems an unlikely front runner. He was caught on tape urging an ill man to score powerful painkillers on the street; he offended many people by suggesting the city be closed to newcomers; and he claimed he “forgot” he had a joint in his back pocket when a Florida cop pulled him over for drunk driving 11 years ago. (He pleaded guilty to DUI and the pot charge was dropped.) Yet polls consistently show him in the lead, and many of his supporters say that he alone understands the city’s issues. He’s promised to release a comprehensive, fully-costed platform this fall, but so far his campaign pledges have amounted to little more than promises to halt the gravy train at city hall.
Yet none of that seems to matter to his legion of admirers, including these five voters who agreed to speak to The Globe and Mail. They've carefully considered the alternatives and decided that the rumpled guy who is tight with a buck and blunt with a phrase is the right man at the right time for Toronto.
As the post-Labour Day high season of campaigning begins, they explain why Mr. Ford is now the man to beat.
Connie Harrison— Ryan Enn Hughes for The Globe and Mail
Name: Connie Harrison
Age: 55
Occupation: Student and volunteer, currently on the Ontario Disability Support Program
Neighbourhood: St. Jamestown
My ride: Walking, riding the TTC
My last mayoral vote: David Miller in 2006 and 2003.
My political identity: “Left-of-centre.”
My top issue: Improvements to Toronto Community Housing and city shelters
Connie Harrison says with a laugh that she knows she's not a typical Rob Ford supporter.
A mother of three grown children, including a severely autistic son, Ms. Harrison is a part-Aboriginal cancer survivor who lives in a social-housing tower in the blighted St. Jamestown projects north of Cabbagetown.
In other words, she benefits from precisely the kind of public programs that could fall under the axe in a Ford administration. But she's sure that if Mr. Ford were wielding the blade he'd have the guts to tell her straight that cuts were coming. That endears him to her.
“His language is plain and blunt and to the point,” she said. “He doesn't use words like ‘partnership,’ ‘engage,’ ‘liaison,’ all the fluff words we're using over the last decade that were probably invented by consultants so they could charge more money.”
The Etobicoke councillor’s style is infinitely preferably to David Miller’s, she says, citing one of the outgoing mayor’s legacy programs to retrofit concrete high-rises across the city.
“Oh god, if I could show you some city documents from the recent tower renewal, it's all just fluff language to make people get baffled,” she said. “It's a softener for the gentrification that's coming in. I just wish people would say, ‘Guess what, guys? You're being gentrified. Your buildings are probably all going to be torn down in a few years, so start planning now.’ I wish someone had the balls to tell me that. I think Ford would.”
Having seen up close some of the programs the city runs for the needy, Ms. Harrison is incensed at the waste and inefficiency, something she believes only Mr. Ford could change. His “frugality” is one of her favourite things about him. She likes that he supports portable rent subsidies to cut down Toronto Community Housing's legendarily long waiting list.
