Rob Ford to the Nation: Fuck all y'all

Given that I am currently a woman of leisure, I was able to watch the Toronto City Council in session for hours today.  Between Mayor Ford making drinking and driving motions to one of his councillors who had admitted being stopped (but not charged) for drinking and driving, him wandering around while the council was in session to shake hands with supporters while his driver/bodyguard recorded his meanderings on his cell phone, and him bowling over Councillor Pam McConnell, it was a fucking spectacle at best.
Unsurprisingly, the council voted overwhelmingly on several motions which both slashed his budget and limited his mayoral capabilities.  He is now more of a figurehead than a mayor.  Defiant and unrepentant to the end (even after knocking over Councillor McConnell, he had to be asked two or three times to publicly apologize for his brutish, boorish behaviour, using the excuse that he was in a rush to defend his brother -  Councillor Doug Ford - who was in an altercation).
Let's just get this straight: his excuse for knocking over a woman roughly five feet tall and probably a third of his weight, was that he was in a rush to get to his brother's aid in a fight.  While council was in session.
Before the council voted, Ford was given the floor for an impassioned speech (yet another right that has been stripped of him: being the first and last speaker) and he had this to say:

Everybody’s had their say…the critics, the media, the opposition. I want people to listen to me, tonight, from eight to nine on Sun News. You’ll get my side of the story, OK? Unfiltered.
This, folks, reminds me of when I was watching with my brother when Saddam attacked Kuwait and President Bush said, I warn you, I warn you, I warn you, do not.
Well, folks, if you think American-style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked Kuwait. And you will never, you will never see something that you have — mark my words, friends, this is going to be outright war in the next election and I’m going to do everything in my power, everything in my power to beat you guys.

To quote Steven D'Souza of the CBC's tweet:  "To sum up Ford's speech: He thanked the Ti-Cats, plugged his TV show and compared himself to the American response to the invasion of Kuwait".  Megalomaniac says what now?
Shortly after having his mayoral powers severely curtailed, the Ford brothers sat down with Peter Mansbridge of the CBC.  Two things in this interview were clear: Rob Ford is defiant and unrepentant; and both Ford brothers seem to think that Rob's private actions should have no bearing on his professional job.
Years ago I stuck up for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who was in the act of cleaning up Wall Street when he got caught in a prostitution scandal (he was, and still is, married with three daughters).  My rationale was: here was a guy that was going after the fat cats, and that he was caught in a sex scandal was really not my business.  To this day I do wonder if the global economic situation might have unfolded differently if he had still been the AG.  But know I understand that if you give someone an inch, they will take a mile.
I have since changed my position.  If allowed, individuals like Rob and Doug Ford will continue to lower the bar as to what is acceptable for people in their positions.  I do not wish the bar to be lowered any further.  When the BC Liberals were elected (partially) on the platform that they would not introduce the HST, and they then introduced the HST?  The Premier should have lost his job.
The average citizen isn't allowed to lie at their job: why are we giving our elected officials such leeway on this?  Not only should they be held accountable, but they should be held more accountable than the public because they have a fiduciary duty.
Politicians are synonymous with liars.  What Canadian wouldn't want to see the people whose salaries are paid by their tax dollars held accountable?  I want transparency.  If a politician lies?  He should be removed from office.  If a politician admits to engaging in illegal activity while in office (weekend or not) she should be removed from office.
Two things have become very clear to me over the past couple of weeks: Canadians do not have an effective mechanism for holding their elected politicians accountable; and we keep on lowering the bar on what is acceptable.
If you were one of the privileged to watch the events unfold in T.O. today you would have witnessed an arrogant, distracted and bullying mayor.  Because he has been fiscally conservative, he feels he should be given carte blanche in his private life: his misogynistic comments should be overlooked.  His admission to driving drunk, getting black out drunk and purchasing illegal drugs should pale in comparison to the fact that he union busted and nixed a $60 car tax.
How many times have you seen a more minor political staffer resign after doing something regrettable?  Ken Boessenkool, Premier Christy Clark’s chief-of-staff, resigned after an "incident with a waitress".  Prime Minister's chief-of-staff Nigel Wright resigned following revelations he wrote a $90,000 cheque to repay improperly claimed housing expenses for Senator Mike Duffy (don't even get me re-started on the egregious waste of tax payer money that is the Senate).
Why does Rob Ford not have the decency to go somewhat gently into that good night?  And why does our process make it so difficult to remove someone like Ford from his position?
Canada is vastly overdue for a change in the way it holds its elected, appointed and tax payer funded officials accountable.
We should never have to endure another Rob Ford.