Some three years before Rob Ford became the punch line of late-night TV jokes in the US, he was elected mayor of Canada’s largest city by a landslide victory that surprised many. Less than three years after generating headlines around the world — and after both illness and scandal forced him to forgo a reelection bid — he was dead from cancer.

So what now can we say about Rob Ford?

While the image of a vulgar, crack-smoking mayor at odds with Canadian politeness contains a certain element of truth, it risks casting Ford as either an isolated phenomenon or a political anomaly. Even within Canada, where the experience of Ford is less removed, the swirl of controversy he generated has often masked the political circumstances that produced him.