TORONTO

The stunning revelations by Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair about Mayor Rob Ford’s questionable behaviour and the existence of an elusive video purporting to show Ford smoking a substance through a glass crack pipe not only sent shock waves through local politics.

They caused a seismic shift in the provincial landscape.

Guilty or innocent, fair or unfair, right or wrong — the Ford political brand is radioactive now.

Rob’s brother Doug has long harboured provincial ambitions.

Etobicoke North, the riding that’s ground zero for Ford support, is one of only five ridings out of 107 in which the Tories have not nominated a candidate.

It was widely expected the riding association would quickly nominate Doug Ford once the election writ was dropped. It was also expected he would easily defeat Liberal incumbent Shafiq Qaadri.

Doug showed up last year at the Tory convention in Niagara Falls where PC Leader Tim Hudak was going through a leadership review. Frere Ford was greeted like a rock star by some delegates — clearly sending the message to Hudak that he was waiting in the wings to take his job.

Richard Ciano — now PC party president — and Nick Kouvalis, the backroom strategists who propelled the self-confessed “300 pounds of fun” councillor into the mayor’s chair were so emboldened by that upstart win that some Tory insiders believe they felt it gave them licence to win almost anything — including the premier’s office. And that spelled trouble for Hudak.

While the Ford Nation brand is still strong in places like Scarborough and Etobicoke, these latest toxic revelations will have a spillover effect in other parts of the province.

Yes, Conservatives — large and small “c” — bought into Ford’s policy of fiscal conservatism. But the Tory brand is one of law and order. Their core of support is turned off by any hint of drug use or dealings with shady characters.

While Ford could get elected as MPP for Etobicoke North, there’s no chance a provincewide party will elect a leader whose family is less than squeaky clean. While some pundits have predicted Ford’s troubles will make life difficult for Hudak, in fact it takes pressure off him. He no longer has to worry about the Fords trying to unseat him.

Rightly or wrongly, the Fords now have bigger battles to fight. Opening up a war on another front would only hurt them more. Besides, the Tories already have their coveted breakthrough in 416 with stalwart Doug Holyday.

And while some people were trying to connect the dots between Holyday and Ford last week, the fact is that Holyday has such a solid track record and sound reputation that it was laughable.

Many people still see Kouvalis and Ciano as a threat to Hudak, but that winning aura they had after their successful mayoral campaign is now tarnished. Sure, they propelled the most unlikely guy into the mayor’s chair. Now people are starting to ask why.

Conventional wisdom is that Ford is a great retail politician. That may be. But a lot of people who voted for him are having buyer’s remorse. They were fed up with being dictated to by left-leaning politicians and powerful unions — but may have over-corrected.

But it’s remarkable the number of people who now claim they were planning to vote for Rocco Rossi — not Ford — if only he hadn’t dropped out.

One thing’s certain: Any provincial ambitions that Doug Ford had are dead.

I’m not saying Hudak is dancing on the grave. But he’s heaving a sigh of relief.