Jose Canseco: Wild card candidate for next Toronto mayor

Besmirched former baseball player Jose Canseco is currently working on at least of two major goals for 2013. The first, an anti-aging potion that probably isn’t steroids. The second, preparing his candidacy for mayor of Toronto.

In a Twitter conversation with Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale, Canseco outlined his plan to run for office, despite the fact that he is not a Canadian citizen.

Canseco included “Get elected to a [sic] important political office in the U.S. or canada [sic]” as No. 6 on his list of 2013 resolutions — a list that included two No. 5s (To fight Shaq and to develop the aforementioned anti-aging drink).

The full Star story can be found here, but here are a few highlights:

Jokes, right? Well, anyone who follows Canseco on Twitter know that he says a lot of things that mere mortals cannot comprehend.

There is also his troubled past, which includes a rap sheet and the admitted use of steroids as a professional baseball player.

And yet.

When Rob Ford ran for mayor in 2010, he was a wild card who no one really knew how to handle.

Some felt he was too gruff, too one-dimensional, to move from councillor to mayor. Was he serious? Was he a serious threat? Would his troubled, spotty history stand in his way?

As we know now, Ford was serious, he was a serious threat and, no, his spotty past would not stand in his way.

[ More Brew: Discord between Toronto police and SIU plays out in public ]

Enter Canseco, the former Toronto Blue Jay: a bigger (if not biggest) wild card.

Ford promised to reduce councillor salaries. Canseco promises to cut them altogether.

His assertion that an outsider is needed to fix City Hall is essentially the same message that made Ford a successful mayoral candidate.

Hell, Canseco even has an identical twin brother who can stand in as his version of Coun. Doug Ford.

In short, you could see some “Canseco 4 Mayor” bumper stickers in 2014. Or sooner, depending on the results of Ford’s appeal to a conflict of interest ruling that could see him removed from office.

That appeal will begin on Monday. Canseco — who apparently understands the mysteries of time travel — may be the only one who knows how the appeal will end.