Two former Carleton students will be leading Ontario's two biggest cities when newly elected politicians take office Dec. 1.
Former Rideau River Residence Association president Jim Watson will be Ottawa’s new mayor, and former Carleton student Rob Ford will be at the helm in Toronto.
Ford is a former political science student who once played on Carleton’s now-defunct football team.
“It would be like hearing the guy who used to work at the Mac’s Milk around the corner from your house became the mayor of Toronto,” said John Lindsay, one of Ford’s former teammates.
“If you said ‘Line up the Ravens from that year, and pick the next mayor of Toronto,’ he would probably be one of the last two or three guys I would select,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay described Ford, the Carleton political science student of the early ‘90s, as a quiet, nice guy who liked to party, and maybe didn’t weigh enough to play centre for the Ravens offensive line.
But two decades later, “nice, quiet” Ford has become an outspoken, controversial right-wing political figure.
During an interview with a CBC radio host, Ford explained that he planned to make finance a priority.
“I’m going to put an end to the wasteful spending and stop the gravy train,” he told the interviewer.
However, Ford was unable to explain the details of his battle with city hall perks to the radio audience, as he hung up on the nationally aired broadcast mid-question.
“I hate to be rude, but I’ve got to let you go. We can chat another time,” he said, just minutes into the interview.
Ford told the host he was at practice at the time, attending to one of the few things about him that hasn’t changed since his days at Carleton: football.
He is the head coach of the Eagles football team at a high school in his ward, a team he founded back in 2002.
Ford has also established the Rob Ford Football Foundation, which has given $100,000 so far to start football programs across the city, according to Ford’s personal website.
It remains unsure whether he will throw his weight behind a new football program at Carleton, despite having “teased” Ryerson University with the possibility, according to the university’s campus newspaper the Eyeopener.
According to the CBC, Ford didn’t graduate from Carleton, leaving two credits short to help his troubled sister.
Nonetheless, Carleton students can look on and know that both Ottawa and Toronto are now run by former Ravens.