Sometimes a boy from Brockville gets overlooked but Steve Clark had an impressive electoral record before Ontario premier Doug Ford made him minister of municipal affairs and housing. Steve had even served three terms as mayor of Brockville before putting in an appearance at the Ontario legislature. He also served as Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman’s executive assistant before continuing as MPP for what is now Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. The point of this is that Steve Clark must have lots of friends in eastern Ontario but he might not know as many people in the Greater Toronto Area.
And that is why he might not be as au courant of the who’s who of developers in Toronto and York. This is where those major developers, their lawyers and lobbyists hang out, like drug store cowboys, is at Toronto city hall.
There used to be six city halls in Metropolitan Toronto but, in preparation for the 21st century, the city now makes do with just one. It sometimes looks like a builders’ convention at Toronto city hall.
This engorged city hall is where a novice councillor, Doug Ford, under the wing of his younger brother, Rob, mayor Rob, at the time, taught his older brother the why’s and where-fore’s of politics. And, given the confusion of the times, and his younger brother’s crack-cocaine habit, Doug Ford must have thought the developers where the sanest people he met. As a natural sales person, Doug Ford came to liking these developers.
After the death of his younger brother, Doug Ford took solace in an unsuccessful attempt at moving directly to the mayor’s office. No doubt, his campaign was resoundingly supported by his recently acquired developer friends. He lost to fellow conservative, John Tory.
Doug Ford’s next political opportunity came when a rather rattled politician named Patrick Brown, the leader of the Ontario conservatives, made the mistake of resigning when he was obviously not guilty of the questionable charges of some young ladies. When the dust settled on that ridiculous situation, we found that Doug Ford was leader of the Ontario conservatives and the fox was in the hen house.
But when you stop to think about it; those developers who were just assured billions in profits, are Doug Ford’s friends. Why the hell should poor Steve Clark have to resign from cabinet?
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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