I had stayed out of the melee involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for reasons I don’t yet know.

Maybe I was just uninterested in the goofy dealings of some pol north of our border. Now I’m rather concerned that Ford’s behavior has shattered a stereotype of Canadians.

http://msn.foxsports.com/football/story/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-crashes-toronto-argonauts-canadian-football-league-playoff-game-ignores-request-to-stay-away-111713

The wild and crazy mayor showed up last night at a Canadian Football League playoff game. His hometown Toronto Argonauts lost to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. CFL officials had asked Ford to stay away. He ignored the league’s plea and sauntered in around halftime and promptly made a world-class spectacle of himself.

I once thought of Canadians as being dull and stodgy. They spoke with that funny accent — saying things like they were “going uuut and abuuut.” They end many sentences with “eh,” making it sound as if they’re asking a question. They’re tough to read, eh?

Now comes this clown Ford. He admits to smoking crack, which in Canada is as illegal as it is in the United States. He also says he has purchased other illegal substances.

He seems unapologetic about his behavior, telling his constituents that they knew what they were getting when they elected him. I rather doubt they had this in mind.

Now we learn that His Dishonor wants to be prime minister of Canada. I wonder if it’s as true there as it is here that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” when it comes to politicians’ reputations.

One-time Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards once said that the people of his state didn’t “expect their politicians to be corrupt; they demand it of them.” Of course, he ended up doing prison time for his misdeeds.

Will that end up being Rob Ford’s fate in the Great White North? Time will tell.

This guy, though, is making me rethink my view of Canadians.