Ombudsman Fiona Crean defended her report into Toronto Community Housing (TCH) as city council began its monthly May meeting without Mayor Rob Ford on Tuesday.

Ford is in rehab, according to his brother Coun. Doug Ford. However, the councillor did not say where the facility is located.

Doug Ford was seen sitting in the mayor’s seat in council chamber, but later moved.

The first order of business was to extend the powers of the Toronto ombudsman to city corporations.

Under the City of Toronto Act, the ombudsman cannot investigate the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Public Library Board.

“Let’s keep our ombudsman looking after our residents and our Toronto organizations,” Coun. Sarah Doucette, who introduced the motion, told city council.

The motion was approved by a vote of 34-3.

Click here to read the motion.

Council then moved on to another matter concerning the ombudsman: public housing.

Council voted to endorse Crean’s report into TCH. “We have to do better than this and we will do better than this,” said Coun. Ana Bailao, a TCH board member.

The controversial HR practices at TCH ultimately led to the departure of its CEO Eugene Jones.

The 111-page report followed Crean’s investigation into TCH’s hiring, firing and promotion practices over the last two years under the watch of Jones.

The ombudsman said it was “an alarming tale” of some senior executives ignoring policies and running the agency “as if it was their own personal fiefdom.”
Jones had been hand-picked by Ford to run the TCH.

TCH board chair Bud Purves said Tuesday he was taking Crean’s report seriously.

“The board does not take this recommendations lightly … we have to treat our own people well to treat our tenants well,” Purves told council.

Crean reiterated that the TCH had “first-rate” policy framework but “the issue is adhering to it.”

Other items

Kindness Week
Coun. Joe Mihevc introduced a motion to declare this week “Kindness Week.”

As part of the Human Kindness Project, it will focus on deliberate acts of kindness.

The city will officially celebrate kindness week from May 5-9.

Homelessness task force

Coun. Paul Ainslie wants to know more about the mayor’s task force on homelessness. Ford announced in 2011 that the task force would be run by Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti.

“To date nothing has taken place with regards to a task force on homelessness,” Ainslie’s motion reads, and he wants to know why nothing has been done.
Speaker Frances Nunziata moved to have the motion referred to executive committee. It passed, with 36 votes in favour.

The next executive committee meeting is May 27.

Click here to read the motion.

Violation of code of conduct: Rob Ford
Council was set to discuss a robocall from Mayor Ford to residents of Ward 43, Coun. Paul Ainslie’s ward.

The integrity commissioner had recommended that council find that Ford did violate the city’s code of conduct, and that Ford should apologize to Ainslie.

Councillors voted 38-2 to deal with this matter when Ford returns.

Click here to read the motion.

Coun. Doug Ford won’t rule out a run for mayor in his brother’s absence.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is in rehab, according to the councillor, and if Rob Ford isn’t ready to return for the Oct. 27 election, Doug Ford may take his place.

When asked directly “will you run for mayor?” Doug Ford told CityNews political specialist Cynthia Mulligan “no comment.”

On Tuesday, Doug was seen sitting in his brother’s seat during the first city council meeting without the mayor.

“Obviously Ford Nation is hoping to have a Ford on the ballot and if it’s not Mayor Ford then Doug Ford would be an excellent choice,” Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington told CityNews on Wednesday.

“I think it’s premature,” he added.

The councillor has said he would not be running for re-election himself in Ward 2, as he will be focusing on running the mayor’s re-election campaign.

Nelson Wiseman, an associate professor in political science at the University of Toronto, speculated that decision could free up the Etobicoke North ward for Rob Ford.

Before the provincial election was called, Doug Ford had also said he wanted to run under the Progressive Conservative banner.

“Call an election, Kathleen Wynne, in May and I will run. I will guarantee it and we will defeat you,” Doug Ford said in April. He later said he would not run for the PCs.

Mayoral registrations will be accepted until Sept. 11.

Coun. Doug Ford responded Wednesday to reports that his brother, Mayor Rob Ford, was returning calls from rehab.

“He has private time that he can make calls,” he said.

Coun. Ford also said a young woman was mistaken when she claimed to have spotted the mayor at a west-end Toronto coffee shop on Tuesday morning, saying it was him, not Rob.

“That was me at the Junction,” Doug stressed. “That was me at (Tim Hortons).”

Ford’s commitment to his rehabilitation was being questioned by some after he reportedly told Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington that he was still returning calls from constituents.

“I am getting help but I still want to help,” Ford told Warmington.

Ford also said he still planned to run for mayor and that he would be re-elected on Oct. 27.

Warmington told CityNews he called Ford on his cell phone after hearing the mayor had spoken to Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong.

“I don’t think he has very much privilege with [his phone] but I did happen to get him,” Warmington said.

Warmginton also spoke to 680News political affairs specialist John Stall on Wednesday morning.

“I did sense that he is still a little tired, but he was talking clear and certainly talking about things I’ve never heard him talk about before,” Warmington told Stall.

“He seems really excited about it. He described it like being at a football camp. There’s a lot of structure there…He really likes the other patients that he’s with and seems like he’s energized by the whole thing…He definitely seems to be enjoying being in rehab.”

The mayor is on a leave of absence from city hall, with no timeline for his return, after admitting to problems with alcohol.

“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Ford said in a statement last week.

The leave came immediately after the Globe and Mail published an article that two reporters had seen a new video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack cocaine. The Toronto Sun, meanwhile, published an article that Ford was caught an audio tape making racist and sexist remarks at an Etobicoke bar.

Ford has not said where he is undergoing treatment. There are unconfirmed reports he is in a facility in Guelph. A mock ‘missing person’ flyer showing Ford has been seen around downtown Toronto. The number listed is 311, the number for city services.

Hahaha someone put up Rob Ford Missing posters downtown. #topoli pic.twitter.com/qvAZ0wKqii

— Jason Giles (@jasegiles) May 6, 2014

Doug Ford has said the location of the rehab facility will be kept confidential out of privacy concerns for others in the same facility.

“You (media) are putting all the other patients in jeopardy,” he said. “The doctor called me and they asked ‘please tell the media to stop.’ This is not about just Rob, this is about all the other patients.”

“(If you found out where he was) you guys would be up in the trees.”

The facility, Rob Ford told Warmington, is a treatment centre that deals with addiction to alcohol among other things. Ford said he was participating in group sessions that include four to eight people as well as one-on-one sessions, in which he is learning about himself and the past.

“I do believe that he’s in [rehab], but again, do I have definitive proof? Was I there? No,” Warmington told Stall.

“He certainly told me he was in there. He described the program, so I do believe he’s in there.”

The mayor also told Warmington he is sharing rehab space with “two doctors, a captain of industry and a professional athlete.”

One long-time addiction specialist told CityNews it would be out of the ordinary to allow a new patient to make calls.

Dennis Long, who has worked in the field for 30 years, said Ford needs to “make a complete break” from his usual routines in order to get clean.

“Most rehab or treatment facilities require (patients) to not be in contact with the outside world, usually for the first two or three weeks of the program,” Long said. “And they are quite aggressive about that.”

Listen to Stall’s full interview with Warmington below:

Coun. Doug Ford told the Toronto Sun that the city will soon have proof that his brother is in rehab.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford took a leave of absence from city hall last week saying he would address what he said were issues with alcohol. Since then, the mayor’s whereabouts have not been made public.

However, he has spoken to Sun reporter Joe Warmington at least twice on the phone. That sparked speculation he may not have been in treatment, as phone calls and other outside contact is often limited at rehab facilities.

In an article published on Friday, Warmington said Doug Ford told him the family will be putting “an end to all speculation.”

“He was not clear on exactly how he was going to address this, but he indicated that obviously the public has a desire to have some sort of proof,” Warmington told 680News political specialist John Stall on Friday morning.

“He’s going to provide something today,” Warmington said, adding he didn’t know if it was a photo or a video.

Doug Ford also told Warmington that Rob Ford has not been out in public since he went into rehab, despite rumours he may have been gone for three days.

The councillor also said that regardless of whether the mayor is at “one, two or 10 locations,” he has been under the constant supervision of medical professionals.

A new video has surfaced of Rob Ford, where the Toronto mayor is heard making violent threats, shouting for alcohol and talking about his impending divorce.

The video was obtained by the Toronto Sun and published online on Friday.

It was allegedly taken in the same three-day stretch as the video that reportedly shows Ford smoking from a metal pipe in his sister’s basement. During the same time period, Ford was also allegedly caught an audio tape making racist and sexist remarks at an Etobicoke bar.

After reports of the video and audio tapes surfaced in the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun last week, Ford announced he was taking a leave of absence from city hall. Coun. Doug Ford says his brother is in rehab and has promised to provide proof later on Friday.

The new video was taped in a Weston Road bar on April 27, according to the Toronto Sun.

In the tape, Ford says “I’ll kick him right in the f***ing head.”

He also repeatedly shouts “Jack! Jack! Jack!” which appears to be a request for more Jack Daniels.

The bartender then can be heard saying, “last call.”

Ford then says “I’m outta here. I’m in a f***ing divorce. I’m going to the f***ing doghouse. I’m going to a hotel.”

Toronto’s public transit is emerging as a key issue in the mayoral race which is less than three months away. And each of the five leading candidates have made it a central election platform. Here is how each one stacks up against the other:

Olivia Chow

1. Candidate’s key transit priorities: Expand rush-hour bus service by 10 per cent and cancel the Scarborough subway extension.
2. Downtown Relief Line: She said in an April interview with CIUT-FM that while in favour of the relief line, it should not be an election issue since it’s not projected to open for another 17 years.
3. What to do about the Scarborough RT: Scrap the plan to build an underground subway and return to the $1.4-billion, seven-stop light-rail plan that the provincial government had promised to fund.
4. Plan for funding (if any): Has proposed that property tax (holding around the rate of inflation) could finance the city’s portion of the downtown relief line.
5. The projected time to complete the project(s): Scarborough light rail transit (LRT) by 2019.

She said it: “Rob Ford’s underground is a billion-dollar, 30-year tax hike. Plus all the costs yet to come. And it is at least $30 million more a year to operate. That will cost jobs and cost families. I will mind the public purse and deliver better transit faster.”

Rob Ford

1. Candidate’s key transit priorities: Scarborough subway to replace the aging RT, as well new subways on Sheppard and Finch avenues.
2. Downtown relief line: He has said that a Yonge Street relief line would be his third priority, behind the aforementioned subways.
3. What to do about the Scarborough RT: Championed himself as the “subway mayor,” and trumpeted an agreement between the three levels of government to replace the RT with a $3-billion plus subway extension.
4. Plan for funding (if any): For the Sheppard and Finch subways, there is no clear plan set out. As for the Scarborough subway, the other levels of government are committed to 2/3 of the cost, with Ford supporting a 1.6 per-cent property tax levy to be phased in over three years.
5. The projected time to complete the project(s): Scarborough subway extension by 2023.

He said it: “[People] downtown, they have subways. People are getting ignored in North York. They’re getting ignored in Scarborough.”

David Soknacki

1. Candidate’s key transit priorities: Cancel Scarborough subway expansion and replace it with light rail transit.
2. Downtown relief line: Use savings from cancelled Scarborough subway extension to fund a “commuter relief line.”
3. What to do about the Scarborough RT: Replace it with a light-rail system, not the subway extension that has been approved.
4. Plan for funding (if any): Has said that he would consider “every revenue tool that’s available,” including road tolls, higher property taxes and higher transit fares.
5. The projected time to complete the project(s): Scarborough LRT by 2019.

He said it: “LRT is the best for Scarborough. It’s not a fantasy plan.”

Karen Stintz

1. Candidate’s key transit priorities: A downtown relief line to reduce strain on Yonge-University-Spadina line; extending Bloor-Danforth line into Scarborough.
2. Downtown relief line: Connect to existing east and west lines to reduce congestion.
3. What to do about the Scarborough RT: Continue with approved subway extension.
4. Plan for funding (if any): Plans to sell the city’s stake in Toronto Hydro, as well as parking authority (Green P) revenue initiatives.
5. The projected time to complete the project(s): Scarborough subway extension by 2023.

She said it: “My funding plan will ensure that we fully fund Toronto’s share of the Toronto relief line without raising property taxes.”

John Tory

1. Candidate’s key transit priorities: SmartTrack, a 53-kilometre, 22-stop surface rail line that would operate on existing GO Transit lines.
2. Downtown relief line: After endorsing a relief line, Tory changed course with the SmartTrack plan, which would depend on existing GO lines to be electrified (Metrolinx has a 10-year window for that project) and is touted as being up and running in seven years.
3. What to do about the Scarborough RT: Push ahead with the approved subway extension.
4. Plan for funding (if any): Has said that $2.5 billion could come from tax increment financing, where funds are raised by borrowing and paid off by property tax increases on the land near the new stations.
5. The projected time to complete the project(s): SmartTrack in seven years; Scarborough subway extension by 2023.

He said it: “I have assumed that one of my jobs as mayor is going to have to be to go and champion [SmartTrack] with the other two levels of government. With respect to the federal government… if we don’t start the term of office by picking a fight with them on the Scarborough subway, they will be there.”

Toronto police are preparing to subpoena Mayor Rob Ford to testify in the extortion trial against his friend and accused drug dealer Sandro Lisi, Ford’s lawyer told the Toronto Star.

According to the newspaper, a meeting was arranged on Thursday to serve the mayor but was postponed when the media got wind of the meeting.

Ford’s lawyer told the Star it’s not a matter of if the mayor will get notice, but when.

Lisi’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 2.

He is facing extortion charges in connection to his alleged attempts to retrieve the video of Mayor Ford smoking crack with alleged gang members.

Lisi is also facing drug charges in a separate trial.

If the Crown decides to call Ford to the witness stand, he is obligated to testify under oath.

Toronto police are preparing to subpoena Mayor Rob Ford to testify in the extortion trial against his friend and accused drug dealer Sandro Lisi, Ford’s lawyer told the Toronto Star.

According to the newspaper, a meeting was arranged on Thursday to serve the mayor but was postponed when the media got wind of the meeting.

Ford’s lawyer told the Star it’s not a matter of if the mayor will get notice, but when.

Lisi’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 2.

He is facing extortion charges in connection to his alleged attempts to retrieve the video of Mayor Ford smoking crack with alleged gang members.

Lisi is also facing drug charges in a separate trial.

If the Crown decides to call Ford to the witness stand, he is obligated to testify under oath.

Ford is recalling about 205,000 SUVs in cold-weather states and parts of Canada to fix gas tanks that can rust, leak and cause a fire.

The recall affects Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

The company said Wednesday that it traced the problem to rust under some mounting brackets in areas where salt is used to clear snow from the roads.

Ford said that it knows of one fire due to the problem, but no crashes or injuries.

The SUVs are being recalled in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Also covered are the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

Dealers will inspect the fuel tanks and repair or replace them at no cost to owners.

Ford is recalling 53,000 2017 F-250 trucks because they can roll away even when they are parked due to a manufacturing error.

Ford says drivers should use the parking brake to make sure that parked cars don’t move.

Dealers will also replace the defective part for free, but Ford doesn’t have the replacement parts yet. It will notify owners when the parts are available.

The recalled trucks have 6.2-litre engines. They were built at a Kentucky plant from October 2015 through Thursday and sold in North America.

The company says it is not aware of accidents or injuries due to this defect.

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Toronto is more than a year away from the next municipal election, and a new poll suggests things might look the same in 2018.

John Tory should not have much trouble getting re-elected against Doug Ford, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

A new Mainstreet/Postmedia poll finds Torontonians would easily elect Tory, with one big caveat.

“John Tory has nothing to fear from a one-on-one match-up against Doug Ford,” said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet research, “but things get much more interesting if there’s a strong progressive candidate in the race.”

Against Ford, Tory wins easily with a 27-point lead (including undecided voters) but the lead is cut by 20 points to just seven points if he were to face both Ford and city councillor Mike Layton.

“It’s clear that if both Layton and Ford were to run that Tory would be in trouble, at least initially,” Maggi said in a statement.

“None of us can guess how a mayoral campaign might turn out and what missteps the candidates could make. In a three-way race with Layton and Ford, Tory receives 35 per cent [of the vote], Ford 28 per cent and Layton 26 per cent. it’s a situation in which any of the three could ultimately win the campaign. The risk for progressives is a strong campaign from the left could mean the election of Doug Ford as mayor and vice-versa the risk for ‘Ford Nation’ is that Ford’s candidacy could lead to a mayor further to the left than Tory.”

In the chart below, Tory supporters are shown in green, Ford voters are blue, Layton supporters are orange,and undecided votes are in dark blue.

Mainstreet spoke to 1,000 Toronto residents on the phone, both landline and cell phone, on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9. The margin of error for survey results is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Doug Ford, the former one-term city councillor, announced his intention to enter the mayoral race during his family’s annual Ford Fest barbecue in Etobicoke on Friday.

“I’m here to continue on Rob’s legacy … and I just have to say Robbie, this one’s for you,” Ford told the crowd.

The next day, Saturday, Tory said he wasn’t “going to worry about it.”

Tory avoided any mention of Ford by name but referred to the “total dysfunction” of City Hall before he won the mayoral race three years ago.

Related stories:

Doug Ford to run for mayor in 2018
Ontario puts $200M to supportive housing, nearly half to Toronto
Coun. Ford brings streetcar vs. bus debate back to city council

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Responding to consumer concerns about exhaust fumes, Ford is offering to inspect and repair Explorer SUVs at no cost to owners.

Ford maintains the vehicles are safe, but said it’s making the repairs available in response to customer concerns about exhaust odours and carbon monoxide.

“Our investigation has not found carbon monoxide levels that exceed what people are exposed to every day,” Ford spokesman Mike Levine said.

Ford has sold more than 1.35 million Explorers since 2011, when the vehicle was redesigned and the exhaust problems began. The move announced Friday comes as the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to investigate complaints of fumes and carbon monoxide leaking into the passenger cabins of police and consumer versions of the SUVs.

Ford previously focused repair efforts on police versions of the Explorer, but civilians continue to complain to the agency about exhaust fumes and symptoms such as nausea, headaches and drowsiness.

The company said it will send letters to owners of 2011 through 2017 Explorers starting the week of Nov. 13 telling them to take their SUVs to dealers for the work. Mechanics will check for leaks in the rear lift gate gaskets and drain valves. If any leaks are found, they’ll be sealed or gaskets will be replaced, to prevent fumes from entering, Levine said. They’ll also reprogram the air conditioning to let in more fresh air.

Ford will pay for the work regardless of mileage, age of the vehicles or whether they’re under warranty. It also will reimburse owners who previously paid for repair work, Levine said. The service will be available starting Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2018, Ford said.

The customer service campaign is not a recall, although safety regulators could still push for one. NHTSA began its investigation of Explorers in July of 2016.
“NHTSA will take appropriate action as warranted, and any future decisions will be based on the findings of the investigation,” the agency said in a statement.

Ford started repairing police versions earlier this summer after departments reported that carbon monoxide from exhaust fumes was making officers sick. The company said at the time there was no reason for owners of non-police Explorers to be concerned.

But over the past six years, more than 1,100 civilians have complained to the government about exhaust fumes seeping into Explorers, causing headaches, burning eyes, nausea, sleepiness and an odour like burning hair, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In addition, Ford has received more than 2,000 complaints, warranty claims, reports from dealers and legal claims related to exhaust odours.

Even for such a big seller, 1,100 complaints about a single problem is unusual, especially because exhaust fumes almost never find their way into passenger areas, said Allan Kam, a former attorney with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who now is a consultant to consumers and manufacturers.

By comparison, the government has only two complaints about exhaust in the cabin of the Jeep Grand Cherokee for the 2011 through 2017 model years. The Grand Cherokee is an Explorer competitor with comparable sales for those years. In addition, the government had only one exhaust gas complaint for the 2010 Explorer, the year before the new model came out, The AP found.

In complaints to the government posted on the NHTSA website, several owners have said attempts by Ford dealers to fix the problem have failed. Many expressed concerns about small children and pets riding in the rear seat, where the smell seemed to be concentrated.

“Ford, you should be ashamed of what you are doing to hard-working people that are having to pay and drive these rolling gas chambers,” one person wrote. People who complain are not identified in the NHTSA database.

In 2014, a Florida woman sued Ford, claiming she and her daughter were suffering from chronic headaches due to carbon monoxide in their Explorer. Under a settlement reached in August, Ford had agreed to send out a nationwide notice to Explorer owners offering partial reimbursement for exhaust odour repairs performed on 2011-2015 Explorers. But that settlement is on hold because an owner filed an objection.

The fix announced Friday would go further than the settlement, because it would offer full reimbursements to owners of 2011-2017 Explorers.

Levine said Ford is confident the repairs will handle the problems. “This will reduce the potential for exhaust to enter the vehicle,” he said.

Several police agencies have pulled Explorer Police Interceptors off the road due to complaints from officers about fumes and carbon monoxide. Ford has said the gas is leaking from the tailpipe into the police cabins due to non-factory outfitters that drill holes into police SUVs to install extra equipment such as lights and radios. Ford has offered to pay to seal the holes.

Police in Austin, Texas, pulled nearly 400 Explorers off patrol in July because of carbon monoxide concerns and reports of officers getting sick. Some of those vehicles have been repaired.

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Ford is recalling about 350,000 trucks and SUVs in the U.S., Canada and Mexico because they might be in a different gear than the one shown on the shift indicator.

The recall covers the 2018 F-150 pickup and Expedition large SUV with 10-speed automatic transmissions. Also covered are 2018 F-650 and F-750 trucks with six-speed transmissions. The F-150 is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.

Ford says that on some vehicles, a clip that locks the gear shift cable to the transmission might come loose. The company says a driver might be able to shift into park and remove the key while the transmission is in another gear, allowing unintended movement. That can increase the risk of a crash.

Ford says it knows of one crash and one injury due to the problem.

Owners will be notified the week of April 16. Dealers will make sure the clip was installed correctly and secure it if needed.

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Ontario’s Progressive Conservative leader acknowledged Thursday that his company would benefit, although “probably very little,” from his proposal to cut corporate taxes, but said he would not personally stand to gain anything.

Doug Ford, a businessman and former Toronto city councillor whose family owns and operates Deco Labels and Tags, has promised to cut the provincial corporate tax by one percentage point if the Tories are elected to power this spring.

But Ford stressed it would bring him no advantage because he plans to put the company in a blind trust, a step meant to avoid conflicts of interests when business leaders are elected to office.

“I don’t benefit a penny…if anything I’m losing money doing this job,” he said.

“I’m giving up a massive amount, a massive amount, to serve the people of Ontario. That was my choice. The people of Ontario, I’m putting before my company.”

The Tories have said cutting the corporate tax rate from 11.5 per cent to 10.5 per cent would stimulate job growth and lure more businesses to the province.

The governing Liberals said Thursday they would keep the tax rate the same, noting that it is already one of the lowest in Canada. The New Democrats, meanwhile, have said they would raise it to 13 per cent to fund services.

Ontario’s economic development minister said the province has already cut the small business tax rate to help ease the transition to a higher minimum wage, but said Ford’s plan favours those who are already among the most profitable in the province.

“I think it’s a little bit disturbing that one of the first promises he’s making is something that would directly benefit him and the business that his family operates,” Steven Del Duca said.

“But I think more importantly than that, for the people of Ontario, I think this announcement to put more money into the pockets of big business and to deny those who are working hard to get through their day-to-day lives, I think that clearly illustrates what Doug Ford’s values are,” he said. “We see now clearly whose side he’s on.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne said Ford’s promises to cut corporate taxes and halt a planned minimum wage hike set to take effect next year show he doesn’t stand up for the average person, despite what he says.

“Doug Ford is a wealthy man, he has always been a wealthy man, and so he thinks like a wealthy man,” he said.

The premier’s comments came a day after she compared Ford to U.S. President Donald Trump, a move the Tories suggested could compromise delicate NAFTA negotiations.

Wynne brushed off that suggestion Thursday, saying she has worked hard to cultivate ties with the U.S. during her tenure.

“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind in the United States that Ontario is open for business, that we want an open trading relationship. I have made that very very clear,” she said.

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Doug Ford’s plan to open a large protected green space around the Toronto region to housing development would make the map of the area look like “Swiss cheese,” Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday, calling the Tory election pledge an environmental setback for the province.

With just over a week before the start of Ontario’s election campaign, Wynne ratcheted up her attacks on the Progressive Conservative leader, calling his plan for the Greenbelt “absolutely wrongheaded.”

“If you open up the Greenbelt and make it into a Swiss cheese map you never get that back,” she said. “You never get that water protection back. You never get that agricultural land protection back.”

The Greenbelt — the world’s largest permanently protected green space —is a 7,200-square-kilometre area that borders the Greater Golden Horseshoe region around Lake Ontario. It was protected from urban development by legislation in 2005.

On Monday, Ford said he supports the Greenbelt “in a big way,” but would allow some development in the region to ease the housing crisis in the Greater Toronto Area.

His comments came after the Liberals accused him of making private deals with developers and pointed to an online video of him — apparently taken in early February when he was a Tory leadership candidate — promising to open up a “big chunk” of the protected region.

Wynne said opening up the Greenbelt for development is unnecessary.

“The fact is there is enough land in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to build two more cities the size of the Mississauga,” she said. “There is a lot of land that is available.”

Ford has said that for every piece of the Greenbelt opened for development, he would add equivalent land to the protected area to ensure it doesn’t change in size — but he hasn’t said how that would work.

Wynne acknowledged that some areas around the border of the Greenbelt have changed since the protected area it was established over a decade ago, but that was part of the original plan for the region, she said.

“He wants big chunks of the Greenbelt,” she said of Ford’s plan. “That means taking a big hole out of the middle of the Greenbelt, or many holes out the middle of the Greenbelt.”

Tory Parliamentary Leader Vic Fedeli dismissed Wynne’s remarks and said she was using Ford’s comments on the Greenbelt to distract from other issues ahead of the June 7 election.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Ford’s plan is bad policy.

“Newsflash: farms feed cities ? There is no reason whatsoever to even contemplate paving over the Greenbelt unless you’re trying to make a good buck for your friends in the development industry,” she said. “And that’s not what public policy, government and public decision-making should be all about.”

Related content

Doug Ford says he would open up Greenbelt for some development

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Toronto police are preparing to subpoena Mayor Rob Ford to testify in the extortion trial against his friend and accused drug dealer Sandro Lisi, Ford’s lawyer told the Toronto Star.

According to the newspaper, a meeting was arranged on Thursday to serve the mayor but was postponed when the media got wind of the meeting.

Ford’s lawyer told the Star it’s not a matter of if the mayor will get notice, but when.

Lisi’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 2.

He is facing extortion charges in connection to his alleged attempts to retrieve the video of Mayor Ford smoking crack with alleged gang members.

Lisi is also facing drug charges in a separate trial.

If the Crown decides to call Ford to the witness stand, he is obligated to testify under oath.

The post Rob Ford could be forced to testify in Sandro Lisi extortion trial: report appeared first on 680 NEWS.

Ford is recalling about 205,000 SUVs in cold-weather states and parts of Canada to fix gas tanks that can rust, leak and cause a fire.

The recall affects Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

The company said Wednesday that it traced the problem to rust under some mounting brackets in areas where salt is used to clear snow from the roads.

Ford said that it knows of one fire due to the problem, but no crashes or injuries.

The SUVs are being recalled in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Also covered are the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

Dealers will inspect the fuel tanks and repair or replace them at no cost to owners.

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Ford is recalling 53,000 2017 F-250 trucks because they can roll away even when they are parked due to a manufacturing error.

Ford says drivers should use the parking brake to make sure that parked cars don’t move.

Dealers will also replace the defective part for free, but Ford doesn’t have the replacement parts yet. It will notify owners when the parts are available.

The recalled trucks have 6.2-litre engines. They were built at a Kentucky plant from October 2015 through Thursday and sold in North America.

The company says it is not aware of accidents or injuries due to this defect.

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Toronto is more than a year away from the next municipal election, and a new poll suggests things might look the same in 2018.

John Tory should not have much trouble getting re-elected against Doug Ford, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

A new Mainstreet/Postmedia poll finds Torontonians would easily elect Tory, with one big caveat.

“John Tory has nothing to fear from a one-on-one match-up against Doug Ford,” said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet research, “but things get much more interesting if there’s a strong progressive candidate in the race.”

Against Ford, Tory wins easily with a 27-point lead (including undecided voters) but the lead is cut by 20 points to just seven points if he were to face both Ford and city councillor Mike Layton.

“It’s clear that if both Layton and Ford were to run that Tory would be in trouble, at least initially,” Maggi said in a statement.

“None of us can guess how a mayoral campaign might turn out and what missteps the candidates could make. In a three-way race with Layton and Ford, Tory receives 35 per cent [of the vote], Ford 28 per cent and Layton 26 per cent. it’s a situation in which any of the three could ultimately win the campaign. The risk for progressives is a strong campaign from the left could mean the election of Doug Ford as mayor and vice-versa the risk for ‘Ford Nation’ is that Ford’s candidacy could lead to a mayor further to the left than Tory.”

In the chart below, Tory supporters are shown in green, Ford voters are blue, Layton supporters are orange,and undecided votes are in dark blue.

Mainstreet spoke to 1,000 Toronto residents on the phone, both landline and cell phone, on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9. The margin of error for survey results is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Doug Ford, the former one-term city councillor, announced his intention to enter the mayoral race during his family’s annual Ford Fest barbecue in Etobicoke on Friday.

“I’m here to continue on Rob’s legacy … and I just have to say Robbie, this one’s for you,” Ford told the crowd.

The next day, Saturday, Tory said he wasn’t “going to worry about it.”

Tory avoided any mention of Ford by name but referred to the “total dysfunction” of City Hall before he won the mayoral race three years ago.

Related stories:

Doug Ford to run for mayor in 2018
Ontario puts $200M to supportive housing, nearly half to Toronto
Coun. Ford brings streetcar vs. bus debate back to city council

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Responding to consumer concerns about exhaust fumes, Ford is offering to inspect and repair Explorer SUVs at no cost to owners.

Ford maintains the vehicles are safe, but said it’s making the repairs available in response to customer concerns about exhaust odours and carbon monoxide.

“Our investigation has not found carbon monoxide levels that exceed what people are exposed to every day,” Ford spokesman Mike Levine said.

Ford has sold more than 1.35 million Explorers since 2011, when the vehicle was redesigned and the exhaust problems began. The move announced Friday comes as the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to investigate complaints of fumes and carbon monoxide leaking into the passenger cabins of police and consumer versions of the SUVs.

Ford previously focused repair efforts on police versions of the Explorer, but civilians continue to complain to the agency about exhaust fumes and symptoms such as nausea, headaches and drowsiness.

The company said it will send letters to owners of 2011 through 2017 Explorers starting the week of Nov. 13 telling them to take their SUVs to dealers for the work. Mechanics will check for leaks in the rear lift gate gaskets and drain valves. If any leaks are found, they’ll be sealed or gaskets will be replaced, to prevent fumes from entering, Levine said. They’ll also reprogram the air conditioning to let in more fresh air.

Ford will pay for the work regardless of mileage, age of the vehicles or whether they’re under warranty. It also will reimburse owners who previously paid for repair work, Levine said. The service will be available starting Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2018, Ford said.

The customer service campaign is not a recall, although safety regulators could still push for one. NHTSA began its investigation of Explorers in July of 2016.
“NHTSA will take appropriate action as warranted, and any future decisions will be based on the findings of the investigation,” the agency said in a statement.

Ford started repairing police versions earlier this summer after departments reported that carbon monoxide from exhaust fumes was making officers sick. The company said at the time there was no reason for owners of non-police Explorers to be concerned.

But over the past six years, more than 1,100 civilians have complained to the government about exhaust fumes seeping into Explorers, causing headaches, burning eyes, nausea, sleepiness and an odour like burning hair, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In addition, Ford has received more than 2,000 complaints, warranty claims, reports from dealers and legal claims related to exhaust odours.

Even for such a big seller, 1,100 complaints about a single problem is unusual, especially because exhaust fumes almost never find their way into passenger areas, said Allan Kam, a former attorney with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who now is a consultant to consumers and manufacturers.

By comparison, the government has only two complaints about exhaust in the cabin of the Jeep Grand Cherokee for the 2011 through 2017 model years. The Grand Cherokee is an Explorer competitor with comparable sales for those years. In addition, the government had only one exhaust gas complaint for the 2010 Explorer, the year before the new model came out, The AP found.

In complaints to the government posted on the NHTSA website, several owners have said attempts by Ford dealers to fix the problem have failed. Many expressed concerns about small children and pets riding in the rear seat, where the smell seemed to be concentrated.

“Ford, you should be ashamed of what you are doing to hard-working people that are having to pay and drive these rolling gas chambers,” one person wrote. People who complain are not identified in the NHTSA database.

In 2014, a Florida woman sued Ford, claiming she and her daughter were suffering from chronic headaches due to carbon monoxide in their Explorer. Under a settlement reached in August, Ford had agreed to send out a nationwide notice to Explorer owners offering partial reimbursement for exhaust odour repairs performed on 2011-2015 Explorers. But that settlement is on hold because an owner filed an objection.

The fix announced Friday would go further than the settlement, because it would offer full reimbursements to owners of 2011-2017 Explorers.

Levine said Ford is confident the repairs will handle the problems. “This will reduce the potential for exhaust to enter the vehicle,” he said.

Several police agencies have pulled Explorer Police Interceptors off the road due to complaints from officers about fumes and carbon monoxide. Ford has said the gas is leaking from the tailpipe into the police cabins due to non-factory outfitters that drill holes into police SUVs to install extra equipment such as lights and radios. Ford has offered to pay to seal the holes.

Police in Austin, Texas, pulled nearly 400 Explorers off patrol in July because of carbon monoxide concerns and reports of officers getting sick. Some of those vehicles have been repaired.

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