A day after Mayor Rob Ford received a political blow with a provincial judge ordering he be removed from office, Toronto councillors react to the city hall shakeup.
“The judge’s language was quite stern. ‘A stubborn sense of entitlement,’ ‘dismissive’ and ‘confrontational’ – these are the words that can’t be ignored. If the mayor had chosen to restore that $3,000 last year, then he wouldn't be where he is today. I think, sometimes, he is stubborn and pig-headed and this is where he's landed himself because of it.”
- Coun. Janet Davis, Beaches-East York
“Mayor Ford should participate in the life of city hall as vigorously as he has in the past. And after his (football) team wins the championship this evening, he’ll have even more time for city hall. So I see an even more active mayor.”
- Coun. Norm Kelly, Scarborough Agincourt
“Well I don’t think the mayor should step down as Councillor Mammoliti has suggested, but he might just want to take a deep breath and just step back a little bit and not be too involved in the whole conversation. The city solicitor said that city council doesn’t really have a role and it’s now in the courts, and we should leave it there with the lawyers.”
- Coun. Paula Fletcher, Toronto-Danforth
“I think we all know mayor has a really strong personality and he’ll decide what he wants to do and we just have to wait for that. Assuming an appeal is granted, we’ll all be watching that. And these things weaken the mayor and it means that it’s harder to cobble together coalitions to get votes through council.”
- Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong, Don Valley East
"There are some, in my opinion, that did not win politically, democratically at the last election and very clearly set out to create chaos. They achieved it and they're celebrating today…I say to them congratulations, the City of Toronto is now in turmoil and it probably will be for the next few months if not years."
- Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, York West
