Insane and hilariously clumsy Toronto mayor Rob Ford is fighting for political life after a judge ruled that Ford had violated conflict-of-interest laws by voting during a council debate concerning his obligation to reimburse lobbyists that had donated $3,150 to his charitable football foundation. If an appeals court upholds that judgment, Ford will be forced to vacate the position, creating a leadership vacuum clearing the way for Jose Canseco, who declared his intention to run in the tweet above and received a frankly terrifying amount of support.
Sadly, it is not to be: one has to have Canadian citizenship to run for mayor of Toronto for some reason, and Canseco, worldly though he is, is not a citizen of Canada. He did play for the Blue Jays during their 88-74 season in 1998, but, oddly, the Constitution of Canada says next to nothing about the Blue Jays. The Toronto Star reports that this may prove an unpassable roadblock:
Canseco, the former Blue Jays slugger, conceded in an email on Friday morning that, as an American citizen, he cannot run for mayor of Toronto. In a conversation on Twitter around 1:30 a.m. Friday, he had said that he planned to "work out the citizen thing" in order to challenge Rob Ford in a byelection.
"I do want to run," Canseco, 48, wrote in the email. "It's a good cause and I know I can do well. But I am not a citizen so it's a moot point. Unless the rules are different."
The rules are not different.
The best part? Rob Ford was shook:
Ford, once considered a no-chance mayoral pretender himself, appeared to take Canseco seriously when asked about him at a Friday appearance. "Whoever wants to run against me, like I said, you never underestimate the competition. Whoever wants to run, I encourage them to run," Ford said.
Perhaps he has reason to be nervous—obscure Canadian bylaws notwithstanding, Canseco did recently get some good news on the citizen thing:
Non-Citizen Canseco Abandons Run For Toronto Mayor [Toronto Star]