This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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A city council candidate planning to host a barbecue in a west-end park, Theo Lagakos, was denied to use the venue as city staff alleged that campaign events are against the rules “because it’s owned by the city of Toronto and it’s considered a conflict of interest.” He explained that “I thought ‘well OK if that’s the rule, that’s the rule,’” but he now claimes to be “really flabbergasted” after hearing Ford Fest is going ahead, three months before the Oct. 27, election. Lagakos stressed that “the Fords have the ability to do something like this which seems obviously against the city rules.”
Despite numerous objections by other major mayoral candidates, the city issued a permit on Tuesday allowing Rob and Doug Ford to host their annual Ford Fest barbeque on Friday at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough. City spokeswoman, Jackie DeSouza, mentioned in an email that “the permit has been issued as all criteria have been met.” According to DeSouza, the permit doesn’t break the rules because it was requested for a “special event open to the public,” not a political event.
It was highlighted that the city’s rules disallow permits, licences or leases for people looking to use city-owned facilities for the “promotion” of a particular candidate during an election period. Whereas, it was pointed out that in this case, the “staff have to go by what it says on the permit application” and “it would be up to the mayor and Councillor Ford to ensure the policy is adhered to at the event.”
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