Are We Another “Ford Nation?”

By Emil van der Poorten -November 24, 2013 

Emil van der Poorten

For those of you unfamiliar with the manner in which the name of the man who created a very significant spin-off to the industrial revolution in his automobile manufacturing plant is often used, it might, perhaps, be necessary to describe what Henry Ford achieved, warts and all, in the matter of modern industrial production methods.  However, in the age of Google and given the space constraints of this column, I don’t have the luxury of being able to delve into that particular piece of the United States’ economic history. One of the things, though, that evolved over the years was also a very negative use of the brand name of the first mass-produced automobile: the word was used as a (very negative) acronym to read Fix Or Repair Daily orFound On the Road Dead, disparaging to say the least.

Recently, the Canadian, then US and now even some of the European media, have begun to provide headline coverage to another man bearing the same name, the Mayor of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, and one that has been stereotyped by the rest of North America as a great place in which to live but not to visit because of its basically law-abiding and, therefore dull, persona.  All that has changed with the emergence of the most flamboyant of civic politicians.  Rob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, has succeeded in grabbing the headlines in a manner unprecedented in Canadian politics at any level with his totally irrational behavior.  His mea culpa to driving under the influence of alcohol, association with members of the criminal underworld, smoking crack cocaine and other acts that could be considered beyond politically suicidal is without precedent in Canadian politics at any level.

However, what is even more significant is that, not only is the Mayor of Toronto’s behavior without precedent, it has not resulted in a total erosion of his support.  Recent polls indicate that there is a hard-core minority of Toronto electors, referred to as the “Ford nation” who continue to support their man (apey miniha in local parlance) unwaveringly!  Jeffrey Simpson, a long-standing columnist at what is considered Canada’s “National daily,” the rather staid Globe and Mail, titled a recent column, “Ford Nation stands by its man. No. Matter. What.”  While I have never subscribed to Mr. Simpson’s political leanings, I have respected his journalistic skills and basic integrity, so I read what he had to say on the web-edition of the Globe and Mail with interest.

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