‘Hurricane Hazel’, Ford brothers help parties woo GTA votes

The leaders of the Liberal and Conservative parties have each recruited endorsements from political figures well-known to Greater Toronto Area voters — for very different reasons.

This week the Liberal Party debuted an ad featuring Hazel McCallion, the former and long-running mayor of Mississauga. In the ad McCallion refutes Conservative claims that the Liberals will get rid of income splitting for seniors and accuses the rival party of scare tactics.

“It’s like one of those phone scams seniors get because Harper thinks we’re scared,” McCallion, 94, says in the Liberal ad. “Stephen, do I look scared to you?”

The Conservative Party is getting GTA support from another former mayor, Rob Ford. He and his ex-Toronto councilor brother Doug Ford campaigned for Stephen Harper this week in their home city of Etobicoke. They sat in the front row of a Harper event on Tuesday, and Rob Ford announced via Twitter that he and his brother will host the Conservative leader at the Toronto Congress Centre on Saturday evening.

"This is all about the economy, making sure that we stay on track,” Doug Ford said at the Conservative event.,“making sure that we continue to have a surplus.”

Both ex-mayors are known for being big personalities. McCallion earned the nickname “Hurricane Hazel” for her outspokenness and her longevity in politics. And Rob Ford became internationally famous after Gawker published a video that appeared to show the then-mayor smoking crack cocaine.

McCallion told the Toronto Star that she believes Trudeau is the best choice for cities, specifically for infrastructure investment. Her backing of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was seen as important for that party’s victory in last year’s provincial election.

The visibility of the Fords on the campaign trail for the Conservatives comes just as unflattering excerpts are released from a new book by Rob Ford’s former chief of staff. Parts of “Rob Ford: Uncontrollable,” co-written by Mark Towhey, that were published in Maclean’s detail Ford calling Towhey while apparently intoxicated and yelling at his wife Renata.

Both McCallion and Ford are well known in the GTA, which contains several battleground ridings. An Ekos poll released on Wednesday shows the Liberals at 45.9 per cent of the intended vote in vote-rich Ontario, compared with the Conservatives at 27.8 per cent,.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau slammed Harper on Wednesday for embracing the Fords, given his party’s positions on drug use.

“The Ford brothers should have no place on a national campaign stage much less hosting a prime minister at an event this weekend,” Trudeau said at a Quebec campaign event. “That is just completely irresponsible of the prime minister.”

But Harper shot down criticism of having the Fords campaign for his party.

“I think our position on these issues is very well known, and the support we’ve had from those individuals from our party is longstanding,” Harper said Thursday while campaigning. ”I’m not going to cast those kind of judgments. Our platform is very clear and the support of that family for our party is longstanding and well known.”

Both McCallion and Rob Ford were unavailable for comment.