More than once has Rob Ford — brash, blunt and outspoken — been likened to another unapologetic right-winger, Don Cherry.

It seems fitting then, that the beloved hockey commentator has been tapped to introduce Toronto’s new mayor at the first council meeting next Tuesday.

An agenda item released Thursday afternoon announced that Grapes will be Ford’s “special guest.”

For three decades, the 76-year-old co-host of Hockey Night in Canada’s “Coach’s Corner” segment has earned admiration and contempt thanks to his bold, often politically incorrect commentary.

This fall, Cherry leant his famous voice to the campaign team of his “good friend Julian Fantino,” the former OPP commissioner turned (successful) Conservative candidate in Vaughan’s federal by-election.

“He is honest, experienced and he’s always there for the little guy. I know he would make an excellent member of Parliament. Thanks,” Cherry said in the automated recording.

The loudly dressed and colourfully spoken Cherry has been known to weave political musings into his hockey analysis — controversially, at times.

Cherry caused an uproar with French Canadians in 2004 when he said that protective hockey visors are mostly worn by “European and French guys,” insinuating it was unmanly.

He’s seethed over “left-wing bleeding hearts,” drawn scorn from CBC’s vice president for ranting about Canada’s decision to sit out of the war in Iraq, and offended Canadian immigrants after proclaiming “I’ve been trying to tell you people for so long about the Russians, what kind of people they are, and you just love them in Canada with your multiculturalism,” after two athletes tested positive for drugs at the 2002 Olympics.

Ford, who is no stranger to foot-in-mouth disease, has also been left skating on thin ice thanks to controversial comments in the past.

The celebrity introduction will surely give Ford a boost as he prepares for his first showdown with city council.

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