Smoking crack, urinating in public and threatening murder might each be the kind of behaviour you’d expect to put an end to any politician’s career.

But Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto, seems to be the exception to the rule. And if he has his way, he might once again represent Canada’s largest city.

During a Twitter exchange on Wednesday, Ford was asked if he planned to return to office.

“I’ll be on the ballot running for Mayor in 2018,” Ford replied.

.@AbTheLeafFan I'll be on the ballot running for Mayor in 2018 — Rob Ford (@TorontoRobFord) January 6, 2016

Ford’s office confirmed the authenticity of the tweet to the Guardian but did not immediately respond to requests for further comment about his plans.

The former Toronto mayor has previously said he will take part in the mayoral race in 2018, if his health permits it.

Ford, who is currently on the Toronto city council, earned international notoriety in May 2013, when reports emerged of a video showing the politician smoking crack. Ford initially denied the allegations, and his lawyer, Dennis Morris, said the video was “false and defamatory”.

But after months of speculation, Toronto police found the recording, and Ford was forced to admit that he had smoked crack – probably during a “drunken stupor”. Yet he refused to resign.

Over the following months, Ford’s behavior only grew more erratic, and stories of his previous behavior started to emerge.

In 2003, he called a colleague at a city council meeting a “slithering snake” who “should be back in his cage where he comes from”. A year earlier, while discussing a public meeting on the possibility of a homeless shelter in his district, he asked: “why don’t we have a public lynching?” and he was thrown out of a Maple Leafs hockey game after getting in a fight with fans while drunk.







In October 2013, he was spotted urinating in public behind an Etobicoke public school. The following month, during a raucous debate, Ford barreled over an elderly politician, Pam McConnell, knocking her to the ground. Also during that month, a video was released of the politician in a dining room raging about killing someone while apparently high, staggering and slurring.

“I’m gonna kill that fucking guy. I’m telling you, it’s first-degree murder,” Ford yelled.

Following his confession of smoking crack, the Toronto city council was legally unable to remove Ford from office, so instead they stripped him of some of his mayoral powers and assigned them to deputy mayor Norm Kelly for the remainder of Ford’s term.

He took a leave of absence to enter drug rehabilitation. Ford registered for re-election in 2014, but in September he withdrew from the race after being diagnosed with an abdominal tumor. Ford was elected to represent Ward 2 in October 2014.