The most one can say about the union beef with Rob Ford’s pumper truck gambit at his re-election kickoff is that it hasn’t caught fire. Sure it’s silly that Rob Ford’s relatives are going around buying old fire engines and that the mayor thinks its a neat way to help him get elected. But it’s not a scandal. Ed Kennedy, head of the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, says it’s a slap in the face to smoke-eaters because council has trimmed the department’s budget by four pumpers and reduced the number of full-time personnel slightly. No one has been fired. It’s a move that was taken by all of council and seems a reasonable effort to control costs without jeopardizing safety. Mr. Kennedy is entitled to think otherwise but his matches are wet.
