Rob Ford has won his “appeal” and will remain as Toronto’s mayor.
Last November, Ford was removed from office – in other words, told by a judge that he could no longer be mayor.
The judge said Ford broke a “conflict of interest” law after he voted on an issue that he, himself was involved in. The judge said Ford must step down as mayor.
However, Ford “appealed” the judge’s decision. That means he asked the court to look over the case and reverse the decision.
Three judges from the Ontario Divisional Court did just that. They ruled that Ford never broke the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
The Ford case in a nutshell
Ford had raised $3,150 for a high school football team. Council said Ford had to give the money back to the donors because of a “conflict of interest.”
Ford didn’t pay the money back. He also voted, in City Council, on a motion that said he didn’t have to return the money.
The judges ruled that City Council never had the right to ask Ford to give the money back, so Ford had never broken the conflict-of-interest law.
Put simply, “it’s impossible to break a law that is illegal.”
The judges said Ford can keep his job as mayor of one of the largest cities in North America.
Rob Ford has another two years to go in his term as mayor.
He said that during his trial he received a lot of positive support from Toronto residents.
There may be a new wrinkle in the case. Lawyer Clayton Ruby (the lawyer for the case against Ford) said he will appeal the new decision—this time, taking it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ruby said he knows it will be an uphill battle, but he’s going to try anyway because it concerns an important issue.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Do you think there should be “appeals,” or should a judge’s decision be final? Why or why not?
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
The judge’s decision against Rob Ford was overturned.
Have you ever been in a situation in which someone said you couldn’t do something and you asked them to change their mind? Were you successful? What strategies did you use to try to get the person to change their mind?
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Grammar Feature: Synonyms
Clayton Ruby said that appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada will be an “uphill battle,” meaning that it will be difficult.
Synonyms are different words that have the same meaning. Can you think of a synonym for the word “difficult”?
