Dynasties is the latest special series from Canadaland Commons, a podcast that deeply investigates the sleazy, dysfunctional wealthy dynasties that dominate Canadian politics, media and business.
In the latest episode (MP3), host Arshy Mann takes a deep dive into Ontario’s Ford family (previously), which includes Rob Ford — the wildly corrupt, crack-addicted former mayor of Toronto — and Doug Ford (often billed as “the smart one”) who is now the second-most powerful politician in Canada.
The Ford family isn’t just grifty, though: Rob Ford’s widow is standing as a candidate for a white nationalist party in the upcoming national elections, and the Ford siblings themselves have been implicated in violent crimes, major drug trafficking, sexual misconduct, and connections to organized criminal white supremacist organisations>
For this episode, Mann leans heavily on Jonathan Goldsbie, co-host of the outstanding Wag the Doug podcast, who is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the Ford family’s violence, corruption, racism, and long history of gaffes, blunders and catastrophes.
The call themselves the Canadian Kennedys. And they’re one of the most famous political dynasties to ever exist in this country. But the rise of the Ford family has been marred by violence and self-destruction at almost every turn. The story of the Fords is tragic — for them, for everyone who falls into their orbit, and for the people of Toronto.
DYNASTIES #3 – The Fords [Commons/Dynasties]