City Councillor Rob Ford enters Toronto’s mayoralty race
Posted March 25, 2010 12:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Right-wing City Councillor Rob Ford, who is known for his penny-pinching ways, officially started his bid Thursday to become the next mayor of Toronto.
He filed his candidacy papers at City Hall Thursday morning.
Ford plans to host a campaign launch party Friday night at the Toronto Congress Centre at 7 p.m.
He wouldn’t go into detail about his platform until his campaign launch, but promised a council under his leadership will listen to Torontonians.
“People’s voices have not been heard. For example, there’s a huge development and [if] nobody wants it, it gets ran through. The people have to be listened to in this city,” Ford told reporters.
The ultra-conservative, who was first elected as a councillor for Ward 2-Etobicoke North in 2000, has promised to slash the size of city council in half.
“Why do we have 44 councillors? The city does not need 44 councillors. The city does well with 22 federal representatives and [22] provincial representatives. We only need 22 councillors,” Ford said.
His candidacy could further split the right-wing vote.
Ford said he’s “in it to win it” and won’t jump ship before September 12, the nomination deadline for running for mayor or a seat on city council.
He could quit the mayor’s race and file papers to run for council seat anytime before September 12, but Ford said he is only interested in the mayor’s job and won’t drop out to run for his old council seat.
“I am registered for mayor, and I’m in it to win it, and that’s what my intentions are,” Ford said.
He also said he doesn’t liked to be called a penny-pincher.
“I watch taxpayers’ money and I make councillors accountable for every dime they spent and other councillors, some of them just warm seats,” Ford said.
When asked why he is running for mayor, Ford said, “Taxpayers’ money is the most important thing. Actually, it’s been squandered here for a number of years and that has to come to an end. That’s why I’ve decided to run for mayor of Toronto.”
“We’ve been taxed to death over the last seven years under the David Miller regime and taxes have gone up and services got worse. I couldn’t sit back and take it any more in opposition, so I decided to take the bull by the horns and lead by example,” Ford added.
He is the third city councillor in the race, joining Giorgio Mammoliti and Joe Pantalone, plus former deputy premier George Smitherman and former liberal strategist Rocco Rossi.
Municipal elections will be held on October 25.
