Public Office

Holding public office can be stressful, as we have seen most recently with the behaviour of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, whose aggressive "apologies" indicate a man in pain, but also a man in denial of that which ails him. Situations like Ford's never end well, and I feel sorry for this man and his family.

The last time a big city Canadian mayor behaved like this was in 2001, when an inebriated Ralph Klein made a late night stop at an Edmonton homeless shelter and berated residents for not working hard enough at finding jobs, ultimately throwing money at one of them.

The difference between Ford and Klein is that the latter woke up the following morning contrite and immediately sought help, while the former, a bully by nature, has grown more defensive. If there is a bright side to Klein's bad behaviour, it lies behind this link. As for Ford, let us treat this man with compassion, not derision.