Although sometimes painful it is my view that there is value in checking back once in a while, to see if what one has written makes any sense. Case in point is a book review I penned a little more than ten years ago.
• · acted professionally
• · did their best to verify info
• · attempted to get both sides of the story.
The subject was Robyn Doolittle’s excellent and entertaining book Crazy Town (Penguin Canada). At the time Doolittle was with the Toronto Star.
If you’ve forgotten Rob Ford elected was as mayor of Toronto in 2010 with the slogan “Stop the Gravy Train.” We learned out that there really wasn’t a gravy train and watched as Ford rode a runaway train of his own on a path of self destruction. Brother Doug was elected to Council that same year,
I read Crazy Town in the spring of 2014 and wondered about the author’s prediction that Rob Ford could win the October election given his various stumbles.
But “Ford’s unyielding opposition to tax hikes and new city spending (had) attracted a dedicated following, especially among the city’s growing population of working-class immigrants,” notes an entry in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
After Doolittle’s book was released, Ford had troubles that might have landed other mere mortals in prison. But, as Doolittle noted, his approval ratings always went up after bad publicity.
Doolittle supported her arguments by citing Bricker and Ibbitson’s bookThe Big Shift. (The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, And Culture and What It Means for Our Future by Darrell I Bricker, John Ibbitson Harper Collins Publishers, 2013). The authors argue that a lengthy period of conservative rule was on the way as new Canadians move into metro areas. These people are more religious and socially conservative and averse to debt. The authors call them “strivers.” These strivers want to own a home in a safe neighbourhood.
Another cohort described in the Big Shift are “creatives." Creatives (who the privileged Fords would likely call "elites") are more concerned with “community supports, the environment and international engagement.” Ford and politicians of his ilk will be more and more successful with this change in demographics.
At the time I didn’t agree with the authors of the Big Shift but now…well, I’m not sure. Three of the highlights from Crazy Town noted in my review:
On telling the truth: Clearly, Rob Ford was challenged in this area. He comes by it naturally, however, as his father Doug basically “airbrushed” his partner out of history as it related to developing the Deco label business.
On chutzpah: In the 2000 municipal election, the Fords approached Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, suggesting that she run in another ward, not the one she had represented for 15 years. They’d even help her. Lindsay Luby declined.
On the Public Mood: Doolittle argues that Ford has a “natural gift for reading the public mood.” George Smitherman was an experienced politician ran second to Ford in 2010. During the campaign his team organized a focus group. Smitherman’s handlers knew their man was done when they got this comment from an attendee:
“If I have to choose between someone who wastes our money and someone who beats their wife, I’ll choose the person who beats their wife.”
“If I have to choose between someone who wastes our money and someone who beats their wife, I’ll choose the person who beats their wife.”
On May16th 2013 pictures from the famous crack video went public more or less validating the work of Doolittle and others at the Star. Rob Ford’s poor health prevented him from running for mayor. Instead, he ran in his own ward and was elected to City Council with 58% of the vote. Rob Ford died March 22nd 2016. Doolittle is an investigative reporter with the Globe and Mail now.
In retrospect one of the more interesting parts of Crazy Town is where Doolittle writes about how the media is better able to track down these stories. That is a result of a 2009 Supreme Court of Canada decision which created “a new defence for libel” that helped and guided the Star in their investigative reporting.
The decision meant that journalists were permitted to tackle contentious issues where hard evidence was not available if reporters could prove that they:
• · acted professionally
• · did their best to verify info
• · attempted to get both sides of the story.
Ten years later this doesn’t ring true. There are fewer journalists working today. And their jobs are more challenging.
CBC Host Mark Kelly summed it up in a recent episode of the Fifth Estate. “Let’s look at the headwinds we now have - political shouts against us getting louder, financial constraints, and we’re dealing with AI which makes it harder to tell the difference between truth and fiction.”
CBC Fifth Estate Producer Neil Doherty sounds an alarm. “We are living in dangerous times when an Algorithm can decide so much about people and their beliefs and then feed them info to foster bias.”
So, did I get it right ten years ago? The Big Shift seems somewhat validated. The gravy train metaphor has been replaced. Today, we have swamp drainers and three-word sloganeers. And Doug Ford has been Premier of Ontario for nearly six years and seems headed for another four.
