The Junction's first mayor, and the slander trial that ended his political career.
By
David Wencer
Headline and drawings from the Toronto News, April 27, 1894.
In 1882 an ambitious young lawyer named Daniel Webster Clendenan purchased 240 acres of land in a community which would soon come to be known as the Junction. As the area developed Clendenan became one of the Junction’s most prominent early citizens, and eventually the town’s first mayor. Ten years later, however, rumours of problems in Clendenan’s personal life began making the headlines, culminating in an 1894 slander trial that shocked both the Junction and the city of Toronto.
Keep reading: Historicist: The Rise and Fall of Daniel Webster Clendenan
A roundup of reaction to the Globe and Mail's article exploring Doug and Randy Fords' alleged history of dealing hash.
By
Hamutal Dotan
Image created by former Torontoist editor Marc Lostracco.
It’s been an open secret at City Hall for well over a year that the Globe and Mail had researched, written, and then spiked a major story on the Ford family’s alleged history with drug dealing—a story that focuses primarily on Mayor Rob Ford’s two older brothers, Doug (councillor for Ward 2, Etobicoke) and Randy (who has stayed entirely out of the public eye). This morning, in the wake of last week’s allegations about Rob’s crack-smoking, the Globe finally decided to publish its piece.
Word started leaking out a few days ago that the story might be coming; by Friday night anticipation was at a fever pitch: the Globe started trending on Twitter even before the story came out. When it did many immediately said it fell flat, a decades’-old tale that didn’t have much to do with the mayor himself, and didn’t involve anything extraordinarily bad.
The story is far better understood as portraiture than exposé: it provides some detailed insight into the household Ford grew up in, more than anything else. It is also, of course, fodder for jokes. Doug Ford, meanwhile, has sworn at least one journalist—Sean O’Shea of Global News—this morning, and is also denying the allegations.
A sampling of the reaction to the Globe‘s story:
Keep reading: Globe Investigates Ford Family History With Drugs, Toronto Makes Jokes
