The day after Rob Ford publicly denied using crack cocaine, The Globe and Mail runs a story claiming that his brother Doug used to traffic in hash:
Ten people who grew up with Doug Ford – a group that includes two former hashish suppliers, three street-level drug dealers and a number of casual users of hash – have described in a series of interviews how for several years Mr. Ford was a go-to dealer of hash. These sources had varying degrees of knowledge of his activities: Some said they purchased hash directly from him, some said they supplied him, while others said they observed him handling large quantities of the drug.
The sources are unidentified; and local police don't seem to recall any of the details. But in his youth, the Globe reports, Doug was a member of a local group called the RY Drifters:
But long before he took over the family business and pursued public office, Doug Ford’s circle of friends was a group of young people who called themselves the RY Drifters, after the Royal York Plaza, a strip mall many of them frequented.
They came from prosperous families. But money and comfort did not mean they did not have problems:
But the prosperity disguised a disturbing trend among many of the area’s young adults – an attraction to crime that went beyond typical teenage rebellion. Former Ford associates interviewed for this story identified at least 10 RY Drifters who became heroin addicts, some of whom turned to break-ins and robberies to support their habits.
It's not an unusual story. Lots of boomers -- including me -- grew up in comfort. The problem the Fords face is the same problem that Stephen Harper faces. People are beginning to think that they are not who they say they are.
Conservatives like to say that they stand for the primacy of the individual. But rampant individualism leads to a shipwreck. Mayor Ford's ship is on the rocks.
4 comments:
I posted the following comment on an online Yahoo forum dealing with Mayor Ford's denial of drug abuse or drug dealings, in response to calls by Ford nation apologists for "decency and fairness" to fight back against the slander of "liberal fascists".
*****
" 'Liberal fascists' - more nonsense from the Harper clan and Ford nation apologists."
" As for 'decency and fairness' from the Ford clan, quite a stretch for members of the former Royal York Drifters gang, involved in crimes from ranging from drug-dealing to robbery to kidnapping to homicide, sort of like the current Millard and Smich gang sitting in a Hamilton jail, to run for political office on an anti-crime, anti-drug platform, dupe the Ford nation bigots and rubes with such a platform and win the election, rule the city of Toronto and handle its business, with authority over the Toronto Police and its "war on crime", host BBQs with Prime Minister of Canada. Decency and fairness indeed - quite the opposite as an object lesson in political corruption - and one which may bring down your beloved fearless leader as well as the mayor of Toronto."
An excellent summary, Rene. We're getting object lessons in political corruption these days.
This is, in fact, a much bigger story than the Crack Video. It involves the whole family, it involves significant and systematic criminal actions, it involves more extensive and rigorous research, and above all it comes from a paper that has been a supporter of the Ford clan.
If this doesn't bring them down then nothing will.
This story certainly doesn't come from what Marjory Lebreton calls the "lipstickle" media, Kirby.
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