Ford’s vanishing act leaves vacuum at City Hall

Christopher Hume, Opinion, The Toronto Star:

Mayor Rob Ford isn’t Emperor Nero and Toronto’s not Rome, but it’s getting harder to avoid the impression that in this city the former is fiddling while the latter burns.

This week, the respected former general manager of the Toronto Transit Commission, David Gunn, delivered a devastating critique of the city’s public transportation plan. Though one could quibble over some of Gunn’s points, it would be hard to disagree with his overall conclusion that most of it is “nonsense.”

Clearly out of her depth, TTC Chair Karen Stintz offered a lame defense, but the mayor, where was he? The man uttered not a syllable on behalf of a scheme of which he is the primary author.

Perhaps he’s still at his family cottage, where he went to hide from Pride Week, yet another aspect of a city he barely seems to know – or possibly like.

Still, for a politician who rode to power by portraying himself as Mr. Transparency, Mr. I’m-Here-To-Protect-The Hard-Earned-Tax-Dollars-Of-All-You-Hard-Working-Taxpayers, it does seem odd that he contributes so little to Toronto emotionally, intellectually, and administratively.

People can’t help but think that Ford really doesn’t care much, not about the city at least. Certainly, he has scores to settle and ideological points to make, but it’s now painfully obvious that Rob Ford is either indifferent, lazy or both.

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