Renata Ford to run in federal election for People’s Party of Canada

Thestar.com
June 24, 2019
Rob Ferguson

Renata Ford is jumping into politics for the fall federal election with the right-wing populist People’s Party of Canada headed by Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, a former Conservative cabinet minister.

The widow of former mayor Rob Ford is planning to run in Liberal-held Etobicoke North, the same riding represented provincially by her brother-in-law, Premier Doug Ford.

“After a period of trials and tribulations I am healthier and I’m more ready than ever,” Ford said Friday as Bernier introduced three dozen Ontario candidates for the Oct. 21 vote.

“The time is right for me now to run to be a member of Parliament.”

The move thrusts Ford -- who tried to keep a low profile when her controversial husband was mayor from 2010 to 2014 -- back into the public spotlight a year after she filed an explosive $16.5 million lawsuit against Doug alleging a lack of payouts from Rob’s estate and was sentenced to a two-year driving ban for being behind the wheel while impaired.

She declined to comment on the lawsuit saying it is “still in front of the courts” and suggested she’s putting substance abuse problems behind her.

“I’m healthier, stronger, I have great support and I think a lot of people go through hard times and they come out,” the mother of two told reporters as she walked away from a scrum at the Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Ave.

Bernier, who broke away from the Conservatives after losing the leadership to Andrew Scheer, said Renata approached his party with her political ambitions.

“I’m very proud that she’s with us,” he added.

“I had a tough time in politics a couple of years ago and she had a tough time also but she’s there with us and she believes in our ideas and she’s ready to fight.”

Bernier promised a “common sense revolution” -- later saying he was unaware the slogan was used in the successful 1995 campaign of former Ontario PC premier Mike Harris -- with smaller government, more individual freedoms, personal responsibility and a skeptical approach to warnings from mainstream science on the environment.

“There’s no climate change emergency in this country,” he told the audience, made up mostly of the candidates and media. “We are speaking for the people.”

Ford’s lawsuit accused Doug, who is Rob’s executor in the will, his brother Randy Ford and the family company Deco Labels of breach of trust and poor business acumen in the handling of Rob’s estate.

Doug said after the lawsuit was filed that its claims “are false. They’re without merit. That’ll be proven in court.”

The case has not been tested in court and the premier’s office would not discuss it on Friday.

“We don’t comment on the premier’s personal matters,” press secretary Ivana Yelich said in a statement when asked for an update lawsuit. “The premier wishes every candidate good luck in the upcoming federal election.”

Ford alleged the two brothers and Deco sold, without her knowledge or approval, Rob’s share of one arm of the company to Randy for $1. Ford also alleged neither Doug nor Randy “have the education and business ability” to run Deco and that the firm’s value had plummeted.

Ford attended Doug’s swearing-in as premier just four weeks after launching the court action and a week after she was given a suspended sentence, the driving ban, a fine of $1,100 and 100 hours of community service for an impaired driving conviction from a 2016 accident at Humbertown Plaza.

She was also forbidden from driving with any alcohol in her blood for three years and was required to have an interlocking device installed on any vehicles she owns.

“I’m truly sorry for my actions,” Ford, now 48, told Justice Ted Kelly in court, where testimony showed her sole source of income was Rob’s municipal pension. He died of cancer in March 2016.

The federal riding of Etobicoke North is now held by Science and Sport Minister Kirsty Duncan, a Liberal MP.