Rob Ford’s new fishing buddy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, says the Toronto mayor didn’t live up to his reputation during a recent fishing trip when he caught a 39-centimetre-long smallmouth bass but refused to “kill it and eat it.”

“He did catch some good size fish, including one – and I measured it, I can authenticate it – 39 centimetres,” says the Prime Minister in a YouTube video taken Tuesday night at a barbecue at Ford’s Etobicoke residence. But, he added, “he didn’t live up to his reputation as he refused to kill it and eat it.”

Before introducing Harper, who was the surprise guest of the evening, to the 700-strong crowd of Conservative volunteers, staffers and supporters gathered in Ford’s Etobicoke backyard, the mayor joked that he caught the biggest bass when he went fishing with the prime minister a couple of weeks ago at an unnamed lake up north.

Ford introduced Harper as his “new fishing partner.”

The party, organized by Conservative MPs Patrick Brown and Kellie Leitch, was held to honour Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for his efforts during last spring’s federal election that saw much of the GTA turn Tory blue.

Flaherty, also the minister responsible for the GTA, has a long-standing friendship with the Ford family, dating back to when he served in the provincial legislature with Doug Ford Sr. under Mike Harris in the 1990s. Flaherty endorsed Rob Ford’s mayoral candidacy in the last municipal election.

“The GTA caucus wanted to have a celebration of how well they had done in the recent election and the contribution Flaherty made to that,” a federal source told the Star. “He campaigned hard in the GTA.”

Ford’s west-end street was blocked off by police when Harper’s motorcade arrived, while in the backyard, Tory supporters enjoyed burgers, beer and wine.

In his surprise speech to the crowd, Harper thanked Ford’s mother, Diane, for “giving us this great Conservative political dynasty.”

“Many of you may remember Rob endorsed us in the election. That helped a lot,” Harper told the crowd in the video. “Rob is doing something very important that needs to be done here. He is cleaning up the NDP mess here in Toronto.”

The prime minister said his government had cleaned up the “left-wing mess federally” and said he hoped to “complete the hat trick” by turning Ontario blue come the Oct. 6 provincial election, a comment that elicited applause from the crowd.

While Harper didn’t mention provincial Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak by name in the video, it is rare for a prime minister to endorse a candidate running against a sitting premier, regardless of party differences.

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