Ford Nation Talk: TTC Edition

Anybody remember a comment about Rob Ford saying something in council like “They have paid protestors, why cant I?”

I ask because – last Friday – I travelled from Yonge Station to Broadview Station.

I was carrying a newly purchased turntable that was still in the box, and I had my back-pack on. I normally take my back-back OFF when I’m on the TTC because I’m not a dick. But I cut myself some slack that night because my hands were full and I was being careful not to crowd anybody.

It was crowded and a guy who helped me wedge my way into the car very awkwardly segued into a LOUD discussion that started something like this: “You guys with your fucking back-packs…” at which point I thought he’d give me grief over TTC courtesy, which I figured I guess I deserved and served me right.

But then he says: “I saved your life, dude… almost like Rob Ford is saving this city, amiright?”

When I thought he was joking, I said something like “You’re talking to the wrong guy about Rob Ford” to which his deameanour turned very sour and he pointed in my face and said “Hey, Rob Ford is saving this city a lot of money. He did everything he said he’d do in office.” and then proceed to go into several or Ford’s talking points – LOUDLY – so everybody could hear, and then asking me – kind of aggressively; “You don’t agree?”

I managed to laugh about it and try to turn the conversation in a more jovial direction, but I was pissed off. The guy was like a grown-up version of one of those affable bullies you remember from high-school, a bit aggressive, doing his best to intimidate me to agreeing with him, and then, in another awkward segue, going on about how good he was in his poli-sci class at U of T.

We both got off at Broadview Station and thankfully he got on the bus and I got on the 504. I then tweeted the following: “Guy on TTC helps me when my backpack got stuck in the door. Then he asks me what I think about Rob Ford. Win some. Lose some.”

I no sooner finished hitting “tweet” than another guy on the 504 looks at me and strikes up a conversation about the turntable I’m carrying. One or two questions; ie: where I got it, how much, did I ever shop over at Mike’s Music Store on the Danforth.

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This man said ALMOST WORD FOR WORD EXACTLY WHAT THE LAST GUY had said to me NOT 10 MINUTES EARLIER: “Rob Ford did exactly what he said he was going to do in office. He’s saved us tons of money.”

And then the guy said that he KNEW what he was talking about because his best friend is “Chief Financial Officer” of Toronto and that he’d told him that Rob Ford’s numbers were legit.

And that’s when I kind of starting figuring out that this 2nd man was even a little bit crazier than the first guy. In between his Fordian rhetoric, he mentioned that he was an ordained Protestant Minister AND a registered psychotherapist.

He pointed out that his shitty looking penny loafers that was wearing on a cold day that he called “These Ben Shermans” had cost him $900 in Trinidad, where he goes every 3 months on missionary work “that I pay for myself,” and where he bought a woman that he was “saving from a life on the streets” a condo. He paid cash for it, though. He won’t take on clients that are on drugs, or even smoke cigarettes, though, because that’s addiction. “I also won’t vote for Kathleen Wynne because of her lifestyle,” he said, nodding knowingly at me.

And then I was off the streetcar with my turntable and glad to be out of the crazy.

I thought in some way this weird occurrence was simply coincidence, but today a colleague at work mentioned something they’d heard about Rob Ford saying something in council about “they can have paid protestors, why can’t I?”

So, I’m asking the internet of Toronto-ites – anybody else have crazy people accost you lately to talk to you about what an amazing Mayor we have. Listen for the loudly delivered talking point “ROB FORD DID EVERYTHING HE SAID HE’D DO. HE’S SAVING US LOTS OF MONEY.”

I’m convinced these two “gentlemen” – one of them definitely a pathological liar – are part of group of similar paid supporters paid by Ford to walk the streets of this city to convince us he’s not an asshat. Keep your ears peeled.