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In appointing Bill Blair, MP for Scarborough Southwest, Minister of Border Security and the Fight Against Organized Crime, Justin Trudeau sent an experienced and controversial player to the political battles leading up to the federal election. next october. But what is most striking about the new minister, it is the deep animosity between Blair and the new premier of Ontario, Doug Ford.
I mean, deep animosity. It is hard to exaggerate just how simple the mention of Bill Blair's name is to Doug Ford. Fortunately, we have a video.
The quarrel between the two Torontonians dates back to the Toronto Police Service's lengthy investigation into the late Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, while Rob Ford was Mayor of Toronto. Doug Ford, Toronto City Councilor
Rob Ford, it would become clear, had serious addiction issues. His family was in denial for years. On October 31, 2013, this position became impossible: Blair called a press conference as Toronto police chief to announce that the police had obtained a copy of the video showing the mayor who smoked crack cocaine. This is the video of which Gawker and the Toronto Star reported five months earlier.
A reporter asked if Blair was shocked to see the video. Blair replied, "I am disappointed."
It was enough to put the Ford against the leader of the day. In a media blitz several days after Blair's remarks, Doug Ford asked Blair to step aside, accusing Blair of wanting to "get out and put a political bullet between the mayor's eyes."
Shortly after the New Year in 2014, a cell phone video showing Rob Ford intoxicated in a fast food restaurant, calling Blair and "all" a series of obscenities, starting with "c-ksuckers" and continuing in other words in the Jamaican dialect whose precise meaning was the subject of debate
In February 2014, the Toronto Police Services Board revealed that it had received a formal complaint of Doug Ford against Blair. Two things bothered Ford: a 2012 fishing trip that Blair had brought to New Brunswick with Andy Pringle, a civilian member of the Police Services Board; and Blair's remark that the crack video had "disappointed" him
READ MORE: Are you ready for Premier Doug Ford?
Doug Ford believes this last comment is a public judgment that could compromise Rob Ford's right to a fair trial. He saw the fishing trip as evidence of an overly comfortable relationship between Blair and Pringle, a long-time friend of the Ford family that Doug Ford now suspected of preparing to campaign for John Tory as a candidate for Toronto City Hall. (This was a pretty safe bet: Pringle had served as Tory's chief of staff when Tory was the head of the provincial conservatives.) "This leader has become a thug, in my opinion," Ford said. told reporters what was, even by the standards of the day, an extraordinarily acrimonious scrum that you should probably watch.
By this point, the growing contempt was reciprocal. Blair described Rob Ford's comments on the cell phone video as "disgusting."
In the middle of the summer, Doug Ford accused Blair of disclosing information prejudicial to the Toronto Star . "Blair has served Ford a defamation notice," Ford muttered before apologizing to Blair in an extraordinarily vindictive scrum that was captured on video and you should probably look in. Blair said the excuses were "no good". 39. were not good enough Ford has offered a fuller written apology Blair has accepted it.
Bygones, is not it? Not on your life. More than two years after Blair Doug Ford had dragged out two apologies, the former city councilor and unfortunate mayoral candidate had not forgotten their confrontation.A Global News reporter was interviewing Ford about a new book that was not available. He had written, describing the mayor's office of his late brother.The reporter, Alan Carter, asked Ford if he still had to apologize to Blair.
In an extraordinarily angry response, you should probably look, Ford's gone on Carter. "You gotta make fun of me i, "he says," you do not care about me. He goes out and begins to accuse the mayor that he should not even be involved in politics? He should not be involved in politics, Bill Blair right now.
At this point, Blair was elected to Parliament as a Trudeau Liberal. "You have to make fun of me … He receives paid trips from his boss, one of the stewards, during a fishing trip that happens to be John Tory's campaign manager and the manager. fundraising? Come on, shake your head. "
Carter pushed back, asking if it was worth while Ford" attacked "Blair over Rob Ford's original crack video" I would continue to attack him, "replied Doug Ford. in their good sense, spends millions and millions of dollars … and finds nothing? Zero? With zero? And you tell me that this is not a witch hunt? There is more in this world video. Ford's emotions are still believed about it, and the mention of Bill Blair's name brings all this bubbling to the service.
And now, Justin Trudeau has elevated Blair to Cabinet to make him one of the main interlocutors of the Ford government. It is impossible to predict how this will be played out.
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