Close X
Thursday, November 7, 2024
ADVT 
National

Toronto's mayor recommends stadium be renamed to honour Rob Ford

Darpan News Desk, 29 Sep, 2017 11:17 AM

    The mayor of Toronto is recommending that a stadium be named after his infamous predecessor — the late Rob Ford.

    In a letter to council, John Tory calls for the renaming of a stadium at Centennial Park, in the city's west end, to Rob Ford Memorial Stadium.

    Tory notes that Ford, who was a lifelong west-end resident, became known for his "unique approach to public service" after being elected to city council in November 2000 and he carried it on after being elected mayor in 2010.

    But he says Ford's community involvement went well beyond politics, and his passion for football led him to found the Newtonbrook North Stars in 1999 and a highly successful football program at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School in 2002. He also established the Rob Ford Football Foundation, a program that helps fund football programs in high schools across the city.

    Tory says it would be fitting, in light of Ford's many years of work on football programs, to ename a football stadium to honour Ford, who died in March 2016 from a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

    Ford became a certified celebrity in light of his admitted crack cocaine use, alcohol abuse, lewd comments and at times outrageous behaviour that transformed his mayoral office into an unprecedented spectacle.

    Ford, whose clarion call was "time to stop the gravy train," died at age 46, 18 months after a cancer diagnosis scuttled his bid for a second term as mayor, although he easily won election as a councillor in his west-end ward.

    Tory also is recommending council honour two other city council members who have died recently — deputy mayor Pam McConnell, and Coun. Ron Moeser.

    In consultation with the McConnell and Moeser families, Tory said he would convene panels of councillors and community members in order to determine suitable public properties that could be renamed in their memory.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Deepak Chopra Announces He'll Leave Canada Post In The Spring Of 2018

    Deepak Chopra Announces He'll Leave Canada Post In The Spring Of 2018
    Canada Post says Deepak Chopra has advised the Crown corporation's board of directors that he intends leave his position on March 31, 2018.

    Deepak Chopra Announces He'll Leave Canada Post In The Spring Of 2018

    Justin Trudeau Condemns 'Cowardly' Burkina Faso Attack, Offers Condolences

    Justin Trudeau Condemns 'Cowardly' Burkina Faso Attack, Offers Condolences
    OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is offering condolences in the wake of a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso that killed 18 people, including two Canadians.

    Justin Trudeau Condemns 'Cowardly' Burkina Faso Attack, Offers Condolences

    Senior Armed Forces Officials Reviewing Probe Into 'Proud Boys' Incident

    Senior Armed Forces Officials Reviewing Probe Into 'Proud Boys' Incident
    HALIFAX — The Armed Forces says the investigation has concluded into the Canada Day incident in which a group of military members identifying themselves as "Proud Boys" disrupted an Indigenous ceremony in Halifax.

    Senior Armed Forces Officials Reviewing Probe Into 'Proud Boys' Incident

    Indian-Origin Irish PM Leo Varadkar To March With Justin Trudeau In Montreal's Pride Parade Sunday

    Indian-Origin Irish PM Leo Varadkar To March With Justin Trudeau In Montreal's Pride Parade Sunday
    OTTAWA — Leo Varadkar, Ireland's taoiseach, or prime minister, will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Montreal's Pride parade during a three-day visit that gets underway Saturday.

    Indian-Origin Irish PM Leo Varadkar To March With Justin Trudeau In Montreal's Pride Parade Sunday

    Drive-by Shooting In Abbotsford, Car Set On Fire, Police Investigate

    Drive-by Shooting In Abbotsford, Car Set On Fire, Police Investigate
    On Monday, August 14, 2017, at 7:50 pm, the Abbotsford Police Department received a call of a reported shooting. The caller indicated that he was the driver of a black Audi that was southbound on Bradner Road. 

    Drive-by Shooting In Abbotsford, Car Set On Fire, Police Investigate

    PICS: Johnny Depp Visits Patients At B.C. Children's Hospital Dressed As Capt. Jack Sparrow

    PICS: Johnny Depp Visits Patients At B.C. Children's Hospital Dressed As Capt. Jack Sparrow
    Depp, who is in Vancouver to film Richard Says Goodbye, morphed into Captain Jack Sparrow, the character he made famous in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, to visit kids at the hospital on Monday afternoon.

    PICS: Johnny Depp Visits Patients At B.C. Children's Hospital Dressed As Capt. Jack Sparrow