Writing about his experience as a candidate, Ward 13 runner-up Andrew Crook’s Facebook post begins, “I would only consider running again if we organized a machine of citizens and supporting organizations who aggressively and unapologetically attack the far left progressive machine. We must fight fire with fire to upend the sociopaths from power.” Later in the post he writes, “The rope is useless unless we are prepared to use it to hang them.” On Monday, Crook defended his weekend post and challenged those criticizing his words online, “First of all, this is Facebook. Second of all, it’s an old saying. So, if you don’t recognize an old saying then that’s something you need to Google yourself.” CTV News entered the quote about hanging into Google’s search engine, but the only result was a link to Crook’s original Facebook post. In addition, Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool referred to the quote as, “Highly aggressive, politically charged rhetoric”. While being interviewed, Crook alluded to an idiom that references both rope and hanging. “It’s a common saying that if you basically let people speak, they can get themselves in hot water. And then if they do things that compile and build-up, that eventually gets them into a situation where you can let them hang themselves,” he explained. Asked if he actually meant, giving someone enough rope to hang themselves, he agreed, “That’s it. That’s the saying.” In response to the significant difference between that saying and the words he posted on Facebook he said, “That’s the spirit of what I was focussing on.” Crook added, “The intention, again, was to make it very clear that people need to be held to account and that if they’re getting a rope, we need to actually use that. We actually need to make them feel the burn. And if we don’t, then it’s meaningless. It’s pointless. People just get away with whatever they want to do and that doesn’t work.” In the Oct. 26, 2026 municipal election, Ward 13 incumbent David Ferreira received 4,308 votes, or 69.54 per cent. Crook finished a distant second with 735 votes, or 11.86 per cent. Coun. Skylar Franke believes Crook’s choice of words is unacceptable, “We’ve seen that kind of online discourse be used to catalyze people to take action and to commit violence against elected officials. So, I really think it’s unacceptable. And I hope that Mr. Crook sees that and apologizes.” She emphasizes that political debate must remain civil, “We can disagree on policy, on programs, on funding, on budgets. That’s fine and that’s healthy. That’s part of a normal debate, normal democracy.” Crook asserts that his post was not threatening, “There is no physical threat or reference to that whatsoever. Anybody who wants to misconstrue that is somebody looking to just strum up stuff, make things up just to cause more B.S., quite frankly.” Crook’s entire Facebook post reads: “I would only consider running again if we organized a machine of citizens and supporting organizations who aggressively, and unapologetically attack the far left progressive machine. We must fight fire with fire to upend the sociopaths from power. That means endless integrity complaints, lawsuits against the city and councillors and their supporters. That means strategic boycotts of supporting organizations, and general civil disobedience to block any far left initiatives. We must grind the gears of the enemy, which will require heavy financial backing from freedom loving organizations and people. The rope is useless unless we are prepared to use it to hang them. That is the cold, hard truth. That isn’t going to be pretty, or nice, but it is what must be done. We should set a goal of forcing a couple of the councillors/mayor to resign in disgrace during this term. That will require many eyes and ears to capture sensitive data inside and out of city hall. (REDACTED) isn’t the only corrupt pervert at city hall, find more, expose them and use public shame to break them. That is how you prepare the city for real change. Gloves off.”
