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Dominating Rob Ford’s office, on the wall behind the mayor’s desk, was a blow-up of his father posing with Mike Harris. Covering the screen on the computer Rob never turned on was another photo of his father.

There were other reminders of his dad throughout the office but, oddly, no photos of him with Rob. Nothing from childhood, not a campaign shot, nor anything from the years just before his father died, in 2006.

No warm memories. No stories of happy times together.

“Was he proud that his father was a Member of Provincial Parliament? Yes,” said Ford policy adviser Sheila Paxton. “Did he have any nice things to say about his dad? I’ve never heard him say anything personal about the man, or affectionate about the man.”

Whenever I asked Doug Jr. about Rob and their dad, he changed the subject. In a 2014 Toronto Star interview about their father, Doug was asked what his dad would do, if he were alive, to set Rob on the straight and narrow path.

“After he kicked the shit out of him?” Doug asked with a laugh.

The walls in this mayor’s office held no secrets. Loud voices carried right through them, and the Fords were anything but soft-spoken. While Rob Ford was mayor, the office held an atmosphere none of those who worked there had ever experienced before. Except for Rob. His office was just like home, but here Rob was the “dad.”

His mother chose the colours, selected the art and decided where everything would be placed, even in the small outer staff offices.