Is Doug Ford poised to announce he’ll run for mayor?
Doug Ford says he will end the speculation next weekend by announcing whether he plans to run against John Tory or to be an MPP at the family’s semi-regular barbeque.

thestar.com
By BETSY POWELL
Aug. 29, 2017

Doug Ford says he will end speculation and announce his future political intentions at the family’s semi-regular barbeque on Sept. 8.

He’s refusing to say whether he’ll take another run against Mayor John Tory or seek a Progressive Conservative seat in the Ontario legislature, but he may have inadvertently dropped a hint.

“I’m putting together the best team ever assembled, but we’ve still got a year and a bit,” Ford told the Star on Tuesday.

The provincial election is next June 7, 10 months away, while the municipal election is Oct. 22.

“That was a slip,” Ford laughed.

The former one-term councillor said his skills are needed at both levels of government.

“Look at the province and the city; they’re both financial disasters,” said Ford, 52, who has been running the family labels-and-tags business.

He said he would relish a rematch with Tory, who, he claimed, has “taxed everything that moves,” and failed to “fix traffic, which has never been worse,” but would also be honoured to run with a “principled leader like Patrick Brown.”

In the 2014 municipal election, Tory captured about 40 per cent of the vote and Ford about 34 per cent. From 2010 to 2014, Ford represented Ward 2, Etobicoke North, while his late brother Rob was the city’s mayor.

Asked what he thought about the possibility of Ford running against him again, Tory, 63, said he isn’t concerning himself “unduly” about next year’s campaign.

“The media love, you know, this kind of colourful story. I think Mr. Ford has a lot of questions to answer about some of the TTC cuts, dramatic cuts that were made to the TTC, for example, under his administration,” Tory said after a news conference to tout his record on expanded bus service.

“In the meantime, I have a job to do leading the council, leading the city, attracting jobs, keeping taxes low, getting transit built, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

Toronto budget chief, Councillor Gary Crawford, took issue with Ford’s assessment of the city’s finances.

“Over the last three years, I’m proud that we have held the line on taxes and reined in spending. Taxes have increased at or below the rate of inflation every year since 2015,” Crawford said in a news release.

“In any political debate, facts matter and I would encourage any individual attacking Toronto’s finances to stick to the facts before firing off false and cavalier statements.”