No Fords on Toronto City Council for the first time since 2000

For the first time since 2000 and a brief two-month stint in 2016, Toronto will not have a Ford on city council.

The remaining Ford, Michael, will be joining his uncle and Premier Doug Ford at Queen’s Park after winning a seat in York-South Weston under the Progressive Conservatives’ umbrella in the June 2 election.

The Etobicoke North riding will now be filled by city council as it’s too close to the municipal election to hold a byelection. Applications for his seat will start to be received on June 9, and council will choose his replacement on June 24.

This year, Ford wasn’t the only city councillor to run in the provincial election, but he was the only one who did not vacate his seat while campaigning, a decision he was strongly criticized for.

Toronto city staff tell CityNews that Ford resigned on June 3, the day after the election, to be effective on June 14 when the Ontario election results are confirmed.

Former city councillor Krystin Wong-Tam, who won a seat in the riding of Toronto Centre, resigned from her seat effective May 4, the day the provincial election campaign started.

According to committee and city council meeting minutes, Ford did not attend any sessions during the campaign but still collected his salary of over $10,000 for May.

Toronto Mayor John Tory spoke highly of Ford when CityNews Toronto asked about him.

“I wish him very well. He’s got a bright future ahead, serving people because that’s what he likes to do. I think it’s in his DNA,” Tory said.

“He came to the city council as a very young man. I think he was in his early 20s. He came and offered himself as a candidate with a very well-known name that does place a burden on you or an expectation that you’re going to perform in a certain way.”

“He is and was, as a city councillor, a decent, hard, working, caring person who spent a lot of time, as you might expect from a Ford, addressing the needs of his constituents,” Tory added.

No more Fords on Toronto city council

The political dynasty that is the Fords in Toronto began first with their father, Doug Ford Sr., when he was elected to represent Etobicoke as an MPP in 1995, also with the Progressive Conservatives. He only served one term, but the political flame had been lit.

Soon after that, his son, Rob Ford, would run for Toronto City Council. He was elected in 2000 to Ward 2, Etobicoke North, where the Ford’s first built their strong base of supporters. Rob served as a councillor for three terms before running for mayor in 2010.

Doug first became involved in politics by helping with his father’s and brother’s campaigns. It wasn’t until 2010, when Rob became mayor, that Doug entered the fray himself. He was elected to replace Rob in Ward 2 in 2010.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (left) speaks to his brother Councillor Doug Ford on the council floor at city hall in Toronto on Thursday, January 30 , 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Rob made international headlines in 2013 after admitting to smoking crack cocaine while mayor. Shortly after attending rehab, he announced he would be running for re-election as Mayor of Toronto.

He was later diagnosed with cancer, and when he became too sick to run, Doug took over as the mayoral candidate while Rob ran in Doug’s spot in Ward 2.

Doug lost the election to now-Mayor John Tory, but Rob won his seat once again.

Rob passed away from his illness in March of 2016, leaving the seat vacant for two months. At that point, nephew Michael, the then 22-year-old son of Kathy Ford, ran for Rob’s empty chair, which he won in a byelection.

Before the 2018 provincial election, Doug had intentions of running for mayor once again but dropped out to run for the PC leadership. He squeaked out a win to become the PC leader and has run two successful campaigns for premier since then.

Michael joined him in provincial politics in 2022 and managed to win for the Progressive Conservatives in the riding of York South Weston — an area he doesn’t typically reside. He beat out incumbent Faizal Hassan by less than 800 votes.

Myer Siemiatycki, a retired politics professor from Toronto Metropolitan University, said there’s no question that he was able to win the election because of his family name.

“It’s hard to think of another 28-year-old non-resident who could have won that riding, except maybe a popular player on the Toronto Maple Leafs, could’ve done it for name recognition, but Michael Ford did win,” said Siemiatycki.

Siemiatycki said it signals that political dynasties may not be the best thing for democracy.

“I think, especially to the sitting incumbent who lost that election, who is a long-time resident of that constituency, has advocated for it and achieved gains for it, is a member of a visible minority group, which is underrepresented in the political electoral system, it does seem to be a loss to democratic representativeness that somebody else can, let’s be honest, parachute themselves into that constituency and based on name association,” said Siemiatycki.

With Michael heading in his uncle’s footsteps, the Etobicoke North riding has been left vacant. Toronto will find out between June 9 and 20 whether any other Fords will throw their hats in the ring.

Whoever is appointed to the seat will only have a little over four months before the municipal election, held on October 24.