Ward of the Roses – Director: Stephen Reizes/Writer: Andrew Burrows-Trotman
This one starts with Frankie arriving at the local campaign headquarters of Etta Rose, who’s running for alderman for the Ward. Etta is a champion of the poor and wants to improve life for everyone in the district. (Etta is black, but there are a lot of white people working on her
campaign, so I think her message crosses colour barriers.) Trudy and Etta are old school friends, so naturally Trudy is helping on the campaign. Etta gets a visit from William Hubbard, who was Toronto’s first black alderman back in 1893. Someone throws a firebomb into the headquarters and while Trudy puts it out, Frankie rushes outside and sees a car speeding away.
Frankie got the license number of the car, but the cops don’t seem to care too much about who tossed the firebomb (and this time I think they are taking Etta’s race into consideration). Since the cops don’t give a shit, 
Frankie and Trudy decide to investigate themselves. They trace the car to a guy named Ken Wallace, who seems like a perpetual drunkard. He claims someone stole the car the previous night, but Frankie figures he’s full of shit. Mary and Flo volunteer to man the phones, since most of Etta’s people were scared away by the bombing. Etta’s opponent (William Decker) stops by to commiserate over the attack. Decker is the incumbent but hasn’t done much for the Ward in the twenty years he’s represented it … other than letting it turn into a slum. Another old friend of Trudy and Etta’s (Boyzey Pembroke) shows up and offers to back Etta’s campaign with all his resources. Boyzey is a developer (with his “fingers in a lot of pies”) and apparently has contacts in high places and quite a bit of money. Etta is surprised, since
developers like Boyzey usually make things worse for poor people not better, but she can’t deny that his help would come in handy. Boyzey sets up a lunch with a bunch of movers and shakers so Etta can schmooze with them. He also gets her a meeting with the Businessmen’s Association. Unfortunately, not everyone likes Etta’s message and she finds a threat scrawled on one of her campaign posters.
Mary shows Frankie the car that was used in the firebombing, but it’s been burnt to shit. Frankie deduces that someone shorter than Wallace must’ve 
driven the car, so he probably wasn’t lying about it being stolen. Boyzey keeps pushing Etta, urging her to downplay her true message and tell the money men what they want to hear. He makes Etta do a mock debate, with Trudy playing the role of Decker. Boyzey’s still trying to get Etta to be more diplomatic about her goals, not wanting to piss off his fellow developers, but Etta doesn’t like the idea of cozying up to Big Business. Frankie brings Wallace some of her home-brewed gin to soften him up and he tells her he saw a couple of college punks hanging around right before his car disappeared. He points her to a local speakeasy called Annie’s, where college kids like to slum it. At headquarters, the debate isn’t going well. Etta wants to emphasize her vision for the Ward (affordable
housing, community centres, and public works), but when she mentions using tax money to pay for it, Boyzey gives her shit. They argue and he walks out. At the speakeasy, Frankie finds out the college kids (named Rupert and Everett … yeah, I know) came in the other night waving around a bunch of cash they’d just made for “a job well done”. Frankie goes back to headquarters to let the others know, but they’re interrupted when Boyzey shows up outside, tossing money around to passersby and announcing that he’s now running for alderman of the Ward.
Naturally, Etta and Trudy are pissed off but Boyzey explains that he doesn’t think Etta will win and doesn’t want to be on the losing side. Etta, Boyzey, 
and Decker hit the campaign trail hard, but Etta realizes she’s outgunned by Boyzey’s money and contacts. When he offers a seat of the Planning Board if he wins, she considers taking it. Trudy won’t let her quit though, and asks William Hubbard to talk Etta into fighting. Frankie wonders why Boyzey is so keen to be elected and figures there must be some monetary incentive in it for him. Mary and Flo pretend to be archivists (complete with Irish accents) wanting to check the historical significance of the buildings in the Ward, since they’re scheduled to be torn down. They find out that a numbered company (which means the owner is anonymous) has made offers on numerous properties in the Ward. If Boyzey owns the company and gets elected, he’ll have free reign to do
whatever he wants with those properties. Frankie and Mary follow the two college punks and see them collecting money and bringing it to Boyzey. Mary tails them to the speakeasy and lures them outside, where Frankie and Trudy confront them. The guys won’t confirm that they threw the firebomb into Etta’s headquarters, but they do admit they work for Boyzey. The next morning, Etta finds it hard to believe Boyzey bombed her headquarters, but Mary comes into tell them he’s been arrested.
Apparently, the cops found a bunch of evidence in Boyzey’s house, but Etta and Trudy don’t think Boyzey is guilty. Frankie agrees, thinking Boyzey’s 
too smart to leave evidence lying around his house. The Crown Prosecutor is in a hurry to try the case and Frankie wonders if Decker is framing Boyzey and pushing the Prosecutor to expedite the case to get rid of his main competition. Trudy talks to Boyzey, who admits he’s trying to buy up real estate in the Ward, but denies trying to hurt Etta. Trudy believes him and apparently so does Etta, since she bails him out of jail. Boyzey realizes Decker is setting him up, since he didn’t hire the two college punks to do anything but they’re telling the Prosecutor he did. He mentions Decker screwing him out of a deal to buy some land where a new Eaton’s factory is going to be built. Decker wants some friends of his to build the factory, but there’s one old lady (Abigail Finch) who refuses to sell her property. Boyzey figures Decker will evict Abigail to let his developer friends get the contract. Etta, Frankie, and Trudy talk to Abigail, who still doesn’t want to sell her house (since she was born there). Etta lets her know about Decker’s plans and asks for her help. Later, Etta announces that Eaton’s has bought Abigail’s land and are willing to
build a community centre for the Ward, as well as hiring locals when the factory is built. Decker is pissed off that Etta fucked up his deal, but Abigail lets everyone know about Decker pressuring her. Everyone hands out fliers touting Etta as the best choice, and of course, she ends up winning. Frankie and Trudy let the college punks know that Decker won’t be able to protect them anymore and suggest they tell the Prosecutor the truth. At Etta’s victory party, they celebrate with a duet from Trudy and Etta.
This is a good episode that digs deeply into politics, which were just as cutthroat back then as now. It’s interesting to see Trudy and Etta fighting 
for what they believe in, contrasted with a guy like Boyzey, who is more of a capitalist but still a decent guy at heart. There’s less humour in this episode than usual, but we do get a few funny moments, like Mary and Flo’s Irish brogues and Mary vamping the two college kids. The Ward was the nickname of a district in the middle of Toronto where a lot of poor people (including immigrants) lived in the 1920s. The place actually was developed from that point and is now very gentrified, lying at the heart of the city and full of administrative buildings and high-end stores.
Noticeable Things:
- William Hubbard was a real guy, Toronto’s first black alderman and later City Controller and Mayor.
- Tickles Malone makes another appearance, supporting Etta’s
campaign. - Decker is a politician of the old school, corrupt and beholden to money. There’s a scene during the campaign that looks like an homage to Citizen Kane, which suggests what kind of demagogue Decker is (or hopes to be).
Favourite Quotes:
- “It’s politics, sometimes friends don’t matter.” Boyzey’s answer to why he’s running against Etta.
- “But significant shacks.” Mary’s reply when a city official tells her the buildings in the Ward are just shacks.