Canada - Doug Ford To ‘Look Into’ $75 Reward To Attend His Rallies

As a neutral onlooker, we could have predicted it would only be a matter of time before Mr Doug Ford, the brother of Toronto’s illustrious crack-smoking mayor Rob would be embroiled in a first scandal, and a few weeks after his launch into mainstream politics, we are indeed getting served just that.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/20297-Canada-Brother-Of-Late-Toronto-Mayor-Rob-Ford-Wins-Conservative-Leadership

Mr Ford was seemingly unaware that people were paid to attend his rallies as he became the frontrunner for the premiership of Canada’s most populous province, Ontario.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">how in hell you can trust dishonest canadat like Doug ford for highest job in ontario as your PM . hiring actors and actress to show off as fake supporters for $ 75 dollars a day . disgusting <a href="https://t.co/hYCPaUUpaZ">pic.twitter.com/hYCPaUUpaZ</a></p>&mdash; k _ twashy (@fashosh5001) <a href="https://twitter.com/fashosh5001/status/994186757062184960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2018</a></blockquote>

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A few days ago Mr Ford vehemently denied the rumors, stating: “We don’t need to pay anyone. We have events. We’re packed. We have standing room only,” but after tweets came out showing emails received by said actors, he changed tack and seemed to direct blame toward his opponent, Ms Meredith Cartwright, a fellow candidate from Toronto and a well-known human rights lawyer.

Mr Ford stated “I can assure you I will be asking Meredith and ask what’s going on.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Copy of the casting call for actors to “play real people at a Ford Nation rally” <a href="https://t.co/rTIRs0jUth">https://t.co/rTIRs0jUth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/onpoli?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#onpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/wj4rYRp8C2">pic.twitter.com/wj4rYRp8C2</a></p>&mdash; Mike Crawley (@CBCQueensPark) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCQueensPark/status/993940487714279424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2018</a></blockquote>

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However, a few more emails later it would indeed appear that the candidates were specifically asked to be supporters to Mr Ford, leaving out all speculation.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Candice Malcolm must be running the campaign. RT: Doug Ford campaign confirms actors were hired to play the part of PC supporters at Monday’s debate rally <a href="https://t.co/S6TjleWxkf">https://t.co/S6TjleWxkf</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/TorontoStar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@torontostar</a></p>&mdash; George Young (@glyoung01) <a href="https://twitter.com/glyoung01/status/994185462947483648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2018</a></blockquote>

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By now, Mr Ford did not react himself anymore, but a spokeswoman for his campaign, Ms Melissa Lantsman, stated that: “A local candidate made a decision to engage a casting agency. This was unnecessary and a mistake. It will not happen again.”

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-debate-protesters-1.4653301