Rob Ford’s first big fundraiser is set for ... Vaughan?

The mayor is looking outside Toronto for election support, and not for the first time, as he plans an event in the Concord neighbourhood

Toronto Star
April 3, 2014
By Betsy Powell

Rob Ford will hold what appears to be his first major re-election fundraiser outside Toronto - in Concord, a suburban and industrial neighbourhood of Vaughan.

Details of the event, to be held May 8 at the Riviera Parque Banquet & Convention Centre, were included in a letter soliciting campaign donations and mailed to people who gave money to candidates in the 2010 municipal election.

“Help Rob Ford STOP the GRAVY TRAIN from returning to Toronto City Hall,” reads the letter, signed by Ford’s brother and campaign manager, Doug Ford.

Social geographer Trevor McKenzie-Smith’s work can shed some light on why the Fords might hold a fundraiser outside city boundaries.

McKenzie-Smith analyzed donations to Ford’s 2010 campaign and found many contributors weren’t eligible to vote for him because they lived in neighboring municipalities.

“Over $623,000 flowed in from the GTA, accounting for 33.5% of money raised. Turns out that one out of every three dollars donated to the Ford campaign in 2010 came from outside Toronto,” the PressProgress website, a project of the non-profit Ottawa-based Broadbent Institute, reported last November.

In the past, the Fords have also blitzed households in the 905 area code with robocalls inviting residents to their annual Ford Fests, free community barbecues.

The Concord fundraiser costs $300 a ticket. “You will receive (a) $225 rebate from the city of Toronto dinner and drinks included,” reads the Fords’ letter. It includes a box of “sample rebate calculations,” noting donations are eligible for “generous tax rebates from the city of Toronto” after the Oct. 27 municipal election.

Ford will officially launch his re-election campaign on April 17 at the Toronto Congress Centre at 650 Dixon Rd., which is within the city’s borders.

“Bobbleheads along with other Ford memorabilia will be sold to fundraise for the campaign. First 1000 will receive a free Ford Nation T-shirt and flag,” according to the Ford for Mayor website.

Ontario residents can donate up to $2,500 to mayoralty candidates. An individual’s collective contribution to all candidates is capped at $5,000. Candidates in Toronto’s elections are forbidden to accept corporate or union contributions.