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If this is how a desperate Stephen Harper goes out, it will be an exit for the ages. It will never be said he didn’t pull out all the stops. It will be acknowledged he mashed the keyboard just as hard as he could, and never minded the bollocks.

He borrowed the niqab as a wedge issue from Quebec; he issued dire warnings of brothels competing with pot-dispensing convenience stores on every street corner; and then on Saturday night in west-end Toronto, he flashed a final emphatic middle finger to his critics and to principled conservatives everywhere, in the form of a rally — well and enthusiastically attended — hosted by catastrophe mayor Rob Ford and his somewhat more respectable brother Doug.

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Thank you @pmharper it was great to see you tonight & thanks to the thousands of people who came #elxn42#elxn2015http://t.co/tqIxs0inxD —

Rob Ford (@TorontoRobFord) October 18, 2015

When news of the event first broke, Harper wouldn’t even utter the Fords’ names in response to questions about it. He called them “those individuals.” For that reason and because, well, it’s Rob Ford for God’s sake, it was an open question just how much of a role the chuckle brothers would play in Saturday evening’s proceedings.