Rob Ford for mayor in 2018? Councillor "plotting" return
Councillor Rob Ford, one week out of the mayor’s chair, says he is already “plotting” his return in 2018.
“If my health holds up, my name will be on the ballot,” Ford told CP24’s Stephen LeDrew Wednesday afternoon. “I’m plotting it as we speak. I’m ready to go, I just got to make sure my health is okay and first and foremost my health and my family — and we’re ready to go.”
Ford appeared on the show to talk cancer treatment and regrets from his time as mayor.
Though he promised not to take an “opposition” role on council, the Etobicoke councillor vowed to fight Mayor John Tory on his above-ground SmartTrack rail plan.
“It’s not what the people want. The people want below, underground transit. They want subways,” Ford said. “I will fight tooth and nail if it doesn’t go underground.”
Ford returns to hospital on Monday for a fifth round of chemotherapy, he told LeDrew. Earlier, he told reporters that the first rounds of the cancer treatment did not work to shrink a rare tumour in his abdomen.
The councillor didn’t only allude to his own return, but a possible opening for his brother Doug Ford.
Last month, the elder Ford brother announced he would not run to be leader of the Ontario PC party, ending weeks of speculation.
“People want Doug Ford and Doug Ford should be the leader of the Conservative party,” Rob Ford said, adding many are asking his brother to change his mind. “The last time to sign up is Feb. 28. I really hope he changes his mind.”
The deadline to sign up as a leadership candidate is actually Jan. 30.
Ford says he has no regrets about his time as mayor politically, but said he remains apologetic about his personal problems that became an international crack cocaine scandal.
“It’s all my own fault. I can’t change the way things happened. They’re done. It’s under the bridge. I feel embarrassed by it and I apologized and I still continue apologizing for embarrassing the city,” he said.
