Daily BrewToronto Mayor Rob Ford clears deck with apology to chief medical officer
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has apologized for disparaging remarks he made about the city’s chief medical officer last year, ending another of the controversies that marred his first two years in office.
It is a nice gesture, and Dr. Dave McKeown has already accepted the apology, according to a report from the integrity commissioner.
But the past nine months suggest Ford’s apology may ring hollow. That, or he really has turned over a new leaf since surviving a conflict of interest lawsuit that nearly had him removed from office.
Ford attacked McKeown on his radio program last April, after the city’s public health department released a report on the health benefits of walking and cycling.
[ Related: Ford apologizes for criticizing city's medical officer of health ]
The report, which cost $60,000 to complete, recommended lowering speed limits as part of a plan to promote cycling and walking in Toronto. Other recommendations were made, but that’s the one that captured the most attention.
An upset Ford criticized the report and called McKeown’s salary, which he said was about $300,000, an “embarrassment.” He went on to say he would "look into that and try to straighten things out."
Coun. John Filion submitted a complaint to council’s integrity commissioner, Janet Leiper. She found that Ford demeaned McKeown’s professional reputation when he called his salary an embarrassment.
Ford’s original response to the complaint was to characterize his remarks as personal opinion.
[ Related: Ford exceeded campaign spending limit by $40,168: audit ]
He wrote, in a letter dated June 12, 2012:
[I]t was embarrassing for a senior civil servant, in this case one who earns about $300,000 per year, to authorize the spending of over $60,000 on a Walking and Cycling Report that is entirely outside the mandate of his agency.
Not exactly an apology. The Toronto Star reports Ford passed on previous opportunities to ask for forgiveness. His brother, and radio co-host, Coun. Doug Ford said in an October radio interview that he sometimes felt we live in a “socialist state where they force you to say something even though you don’t believe even what you’re saying.”
But in the spirit of rebirth, let’s assume Rob Ford sincerely apologized to McKeown. The change of heart closes another unfortunate chapter in his early mayoralty. Legal challenges behind him, ethics complaints closed and integrity challenges ending.
Only questions of campaign spending remain, and those are not guaranteed to lead to charges.
All just in time to ramp up for the next election. All according to plan.
