Rob Ford barred from Easter parade: Anyone want 10,000 chocolate eggs?

Rob Ford has a problem on his hands.

No, it's not the one you think. Toronto's made-for-reality-TV mayor has been barred from participating in this year's Easter Parade in the city's Beaches neighbourhood and now he's he's stuck with 10,000 chocolate Easter eggs he planned to give away.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Lions Club, which organizes the annual event scheduled for April 20, has declared the parade "a political-free zone."

The club's letter providing guidelines for floats and participants bar distribution of religious or political pamphlets. Organizers said the ban aims to return the parade to community and families, the Globe said.

Given the multiple controversies surrounding Ford – admitted drug and alcohol abuse, video-taped incoherent rants, allegations of consorting with drug dealers – you'd be forgiven for thinking the proscription is aimed at the mayor, who was in the parade the last three years.

In fact, parade organizers didn't want the event to turn into a campaign stop on the extraordinarily long run towards next October's municipal election.

Parades, of course, are prime venues for politicians to press the flesh. Ford, who despite everything is running for re-election, is undoubtedly using every opportunity to get his message out, alongside the other major players in the already hot contest.

But the Lions believe the Easter parade is for the kids, so no politicians will be allowed to march in the parade, which draws more than 40,000 spectators.

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Ford said he learned about the club's new policy in a letter from organizers Tuesday morning, apparently in response to an April 1 email from the mayor's office regarding his appearance at the event. Parade director Keith Begley told the Globe the letter was sent to Ford, a local city councillor and the neighbourhood's provincial and federal members of parliament.

“In an effort to maintain harmony amongst its members the Toronto Beaches Lions Club has always restricted its involvement and exposure to anything of a political nature,” the letter reads.

“It’s not against anyone," said Begley. "It’s against all."

Regardless, his worship was bummed by the news. He trundled a skid loaded with boxes of chocolate eggs out from his office to show reporters.

“I understand what they are doing . . . I wish they would have told me a little earlier,”Ford said, according to the Globe. “I gotta see if they want my eggs.

“If they don’t want us there, they don’t want us there. I respect their decision.”

[ Related: Rob Ford heard swearing, slurring speech in new video ]

It's not the first time Ford's been persona non grata at a Toronto parade.

Ford was asked not to attend the annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade last December so as not to become a distraction for the kids, the Toronto Star reported.

Instead, he turned up at the Santa Claus Parade in his home suburb of Etobicoke, tossing candy canes to excited children and receiving the cheers and jeers from adults, CBC News reported.

Ford got a similar reception when he marched in Toronto's St. Patrick's Day Parade last month, wearing an oversized green bow tie and handing out printed stickers that read: "Happy St. Patrick's Day: Mayor Rob Ford," the Globe said.