The stoking of political turmoil, the campaign to divide the city ideologically and geographically, the barrage of attacks against enemies real and imagined: if such behaviour surprises anyone, they weren’t paying attention. And were these sins all that concerned us about Rob Ford as mayor, there’d be no good reason to curb his political power. There’s an election next year.

But who bargained for Toronto’s own version of Breaking Bad: the main character spiralling out of control against a backdrop of crack cocaine, undeniable lies and a heap of unintended consequences? In short, a season not scripted to end well.

The situation is bizarre, extreme and unprecedented.

When Councillor Jaye Robinson first suggested the mayor deal with his personal issues, she was fired as chair of the community development and recreation committee. When Councillor Paul Ainslie suggested an allegedly inebriated mayor be helped home from the Garrison Ball, he was demoted from being chair of the government management committee. We can only guess how many have remained uncomfortably silent out of fear and intimidation.

Which brings us to the need to suspend, for the balance of this term only, the mayor’s power to appoint and fire the chairs of the standing committees and the deputy mayor. Councillors in these positions also form a majority on the executive committee, the city’s cabinet.

My motion, scheduled to be voted on this Friday, would freeze the mayor’s hand-picked chairs and the deputy mayor in their current positions — no coup d’état here — and provides for any vacancies to be filled by the respective standing committee members or, for deputy mayor, by council itself.

In 2006, council granted the power to hire and fire chairs to David Miller, believing a mayor needed more than a single vote and consensus-building skills to herd the cats on city council.

The extra powers don’t sound like much, but behold the effect. Some right-of-centre councillors under Mel Lastman swerved left when offered a position on Miller’s executive. When Ford came knocking, they veered so far right that the car almost went off the road.

Putting aside the inducement to abandon principles, the system works. To keep your position, don’t upset the mayor. Both Miller and Ford dismissed committee chairs who surprised them on key political votes. A tad undemocratic, but not an abuse of power.

But with an ever unfolding crack scandal and the web of lies surrounding it, Ford has changed all that. The loyalty needed to stay in the mayor’s good graces now includes ignoring not only the belated confession but also the alleged entanglement in wiretaps, aerial surveillance, a home invasion, an extortion charge and a murder investigation. Oh, and a simultaneous assault on the chief of police by Councillor Doug Ford, speaking from a podium outside his brother’s office.

On Wednesday, council adopted a motion from two prominent members of the mayor’s executive — Denzil Minnan-Wong and Peter Milczyn — that he take a leave of absence “to address his personal issues.”

With the debate ongoing, the mayor again declared he’s not going anywhere. Ford family values won’t allow this mayor to let himself be shoved aside. To Rob Ford, politics is an arena of constant battle: stand your ground; show your enemies neither weakness nor fear; don’t let your side down, even if that means fighting till your dying breath; never, ever, let anyone call you a quitter.

That leaves us with a mayor desperately alone and adrift in a sea of enemies. What next?

It would be entirely out of character for Rob Ford to let his tormenters — the traitors who once supported him unconditionally — go unpunished for long, and with a never-ending string of revelations emerging, several committee chairs may feel the need to resign the positions they were appointed to by a now politically toxic mayor. Council’s decision-making process could disintegrate, like the federal or provincial government trying to operate without a cabinet.

My motion would free the current committee chairs from Ford’s tether by having council confirm them in place for the balance of the term.

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Let’s ensure some stability amid the Rob Ford chaos. There’s still a year remaining in this term. Just maybe council has been shocked into setting aside ambition and ideology so that the important work we do together might become the dominant story at city hall.