Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:00:00 GMT | By Jeff Hale
Rob Ford leads bad year for Canadian mayors

Municipal scandals grab attention in 2012

Rob Ford, Gilles Vaillancourt, Joe Fontana and Gerald Tremblay.
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  • Rob Ford, Gilles Vaillancourt, Joe Fontana and Gerald Tremblay.
  • Toronto Mayor Rob Ford leaves the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts CFL football game in Hamilton Sept. 3, 2012. Some critics have accused the mayor of being more interested in football than running the city. (© Mike Cassese/Reuters)
  • Mayor Naheed Nenshi waves to the crowd at the annual Stampede rodeo parade during the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alta, July 6, 2012. (© Todd Korol/Reuters)
  • Gerald Tremblay announces his resignation as mayor of Montreal Nov. 5, 2012. (© Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
  • Richard Marcotte is pictured in this file photo. (© Richard Marcotte is pictured in this file photo.)
  • Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt announces his resignation at a news conference Nov. 9, 2012 in Laval, Que. (© Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
  • Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion has seen it all after 34 years in office. And like many of Canada’s mayors she also faces conflict-of-interest allegations this year. (© Mike Cassese/Reuters)
  • Joe Fontana is shown in happier times, reacting to the election results coming in that showed he was in a virtual dead-heat with incumbent Anne Marie DeCicco-Best in the municipal election in London, Ont., Oct. 25, 2010. (© Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press)
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Rob Ford led an infamous year for Canada’s mayors. Normally, you might say civic politics is the forgotten cog in Canadian government. Voter turnout for municipal elections generally wanes, if it shows any movement at all. The attention of the news media is often not much better, especially when compared to coverage of provincial and federal politics. Repairing pot holes is nowhere near as sexy as a cabinet shuffle.

However, this year, municipal affairs has captured more of the public’s attention, largely through mayoral missteps. MSN takes a look at some of those who are in charge of our cities.  

Some are good, some are bad, some are ugly. Others fall in between a couple of categories. We’ll let you decide who belongs in what category. Some of you have already made that determination, posting assessments of your mayor when we asked for feedback on Facebook.

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