Doug Ford says that his late brother’s “Stop the gravy train” slogan won’t be part of a possible mayoral campaign but will nonetheless serve as a guiding principal of sorts.
Ford made the comment to CP24, one day ahead of a planned announcement about his political future that he concedes has become the “world’s worst kept secret.”
That announcement will be made at the annual Ford Fest backyard barbecue.
“It is not part of the campaign, the gravy train, but the gravy train is in full swing at city hall. Make no mistake about it,” Ford said. “It is so frustrating seeing all the hard work we did unravel. The budget is back up by a billion dollars, that is $1,000 a household.”
Ford has been publicly musing about running against John Tory in the 2018 mayoral election since last August.
Though he hasn’t definitively announced that he is running, he did speak at length with CP24 on Thursday about what his campaign would look like, noting that he plans to “put money back into the taxpayers pocket” and “protect the little guy.”
Ford also said that he believes his late brother will be looking down on him as he makes his announcement tomorrow night.
“He will be there looking down on us with that big grin of his and telling me to ‘Go get em’ and ‘Protect the taxpayers’ and ‘Go in there and stop the gravy train,’” he said.
Ford spent one term as city councillor for Ward 2 – Etobicoke North and unsuccessfully ran against Tory in the 2014 mayoral race after his brother had to withdraw from the ballot amid a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.
