In a crucial campaign stop in Toronto Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper rallied supporters at an event promoted by former Toronto mayor and current City Councillor, Rob Ford.
Fordgained global notoriety in 2013 afteradmitting he usedcrackcocainewhile in office– aclaimhedeniedformonths prior to hissurpriseconfession.
“Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. Probably in one of my drunken stupors,” Ford said in November 2013, after denying reports from May of that year saying alleging a video recording existed of the politician smoking crack cocaine.
For Harper, who dodged questions from reporters about the contradiction of campaigning on law and order while attending a campaign event called by Ford, it was the second time in a week that he rubbed elbows with the controversial Ford.
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An estimated 1,750 supporters cheered as Harper took the stage after an introduction by Ford's brother, Doug Ford.
While the Conservative Prime Minister thanked the Ford brothers and posed for a picture, he was not seen shaking hands with either.
The former mayor and his brother come from Conservative Party roots, where their father held office provincially representing the party. Despite the drug revelations, the Ford brothers still command a wide support base, sometimes called “Ford Nation,” due to their populist, low-tax, ‘anti-elite’ message – an irony given the fact the brothers own a multi-million dollar printing company.