According to Agence France-Presse, Rob Ford, Toronto's notorious crack-smoking, heavy-drinking mayor is not seeking re-election on Oct. 27.
The 45-year-old anti-tax populist said in an open letter that he was dropping out of the October 27 ballot to concentrate on his health battle -- and that his brother Doug would run in his place.
"With the advice of my family and doctors I know I need to focus on getting better. There is much work to be done and I can’t give it my all at this point in time," Ford said. "My heart is heavy when I tell you that I'm unable to continue my campaign for re-election as your Mayor." Ford revealed, however, that he had asked brother Doug to "finish what we started."
"I have asked Doug to run to become the next Mayor of Toronto, because we need him. We cannot go backwards," he said in the letter, quoted widely by Canadian media. Doug Ford, 49, added his name to the candidates list at the last moment on Friday, joining the close race for the mayor's office. Rob Ford remains a candidate, but only for a seat on the municipal council.
Ford's announcement came shortly before the deadline to submit names to the official list of candidates for next month's vote.
I guess Canada just became a little less 'interesting'...probably in a good way.