Canada’s Largest City Mayor – In More Ways than You Think

Ah Rob Ford, you really do what you say – which is a wonderful rarity from politicians these days. 

For those outside the Greater Toronto Area, Rob Ford is Toronto’s mayor. And he really acts on what he says.

But from his actions, sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t always think first, before speaking or acting?

A once-great Canadian newspaper – The Toronto Star – has picked a battle with Ford, stalking him to the extent that the mayor has not only refused to talk to that paper’s reporters, but said recently that if any Toronto Star reporters are present during a press event, he’ll stop talking at that press event.

The Toronto Star used to be one of Canada’s great papers, until they started acting more like a British rag – maybe that’s due in part to some new editors over at their offices with British Tabloid blood in their veins?

The Toronto Star recently sent a young reporter to spy around Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s home, at night, in the dark, with just the camera on his phone. The mayor wasn’t called ahead of time, asked or even told that this would be done.

As the story goes, when Rob Ford heard someone was prowling around his family homestead, he went on the rampage, chasing after this young reporter.

Naturally, the headlines the next day were all about Mayor Ford, chasing a reporter off his property.

What the Toronto Star did was wrong and the mayor was the victim of a horrible form of harassment, unbefitting a so-called “professional” news publication.

However, what the mayor did was also wrong.

By chasing after the reporter, Mayor Rob Ford continued to feed the tabloid junk the Toronto Star – and the rest of the media that day – was to report on.

By acting without thinking, the mayor created a story which put him in the negative, despite the fact that he could have turned it around and made it quite positive.

Had the mayor slowly approached the sneaky reporter, offered him a chance to come into his home and talk as two reasonable adults, then the headlines wouldn’t scream in the morning about him chasing another person.

Mayor Rob Ford feeds the media by failing to act in his best interests all the time. Toronto’s mayor and his brother Doug Ford, aren’t slim. During the election campaign which got them elected, a person claiming to be a doctor stood up during one of the televised debates, and said to Rob Ford that he looked like a heart attack waiting to happen.

 

Mayor Rob Ford and his political partner now a fellow councilor Doug Ford, announced in the spring the “Cut the Waist Challenge” where the two of them would go on a diet to lose weight. Mayor Ford’s goal is to lose 50 pounds by June – next month.

Public Relations Fiasco or Good Politics?

From a public relations perspective this is a great thing – it shows a human side to Toronto’s mayor, and encourages people of all sizes to be healthy.

And when the first of the weekly weigh-ins started, the mayor and his brother had dropped a few pounds – way to go!

But lately, the mayor’s been gaining weight – he was up four pounds at his last weigh-in -- he’s cancelled previous weigh-ins, and recently announced the once weekly media events would take place every other week.

He’s avoiding the media, which again feeds the gossip and rumor machine, instead of managing it.

Health experts tell us it’s normal for people on diets to yo-yo up and down in weight. What the mayor and his brother should do, is admit their struggles during these weigh-ins, instead of running and hiding. 

Canada’s largest city has had a number of interesting characters run it. Mel Lastman was a great mayor, which was also outspoken and drew the attention of the media wherever he went.

 

Lastman occasionally got into hot water by acting without thinking too. But Lastman had a great media machine around him, and he eventually learned how to use the media to get what he wanted.

I remember, many eons ago, when I was a reporter covering city hall, and then-mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman actually broke down and cried when a subway expansion he had promised during his last election campaign was defeated.

After pictures of the mayor sobbing, head down on his desk hit the streets in newspapers and on TV, an emergency session of council was announced and then after the meeting the subway expansion was back on the table, and construction would begin in the fall.

The councillors looked bad, by making the mayor cry. Whether or not those tears were real or forced for the cameras we’ll never know. But the then-mayor’s tears worked, and that subway is up and running today.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford should take a page out of Mel Lastman’s playbook, and learn how to use the media, rather than feed the media.

‘Cause anyone that feeds the media is made to look the fool – because they aren’t thinking before they speak.