The irony of Toronto’s newest business partnership didn’t go unnoticed.

Mel Lastman’s Bad Boy is finally opening inside Honest Ed’s, the iconic Toronto landmark at Bloor and Bathurst Streets. Lastman, founder of Bad Boy and former mayor of both North York and Toronto, attended to say a few words and to cut the ribbon in front of family, friends and local celebrities.

A friend of Lastman’s, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, was on hand before the ceremony and was asked to make a short speech.

“Somebody asked, why were the police here,” Blair joked. “We got a call at headquarters this morning saying that there was an honest guy having trouble with a bad boy, so you can understand the confusion.”

According to Honest Ed’s co-owner, David Mirvish, they approached Lastman and his son, Blaine, who currently owns Bad Boy, about the two companies joining forces.

“I said to Mel and Blaine, would you consider coming and joining us?” Mirvish said. “And they took a look and said they’d love to.”

“We’ve both been families in retailing many years, [and] I hope they’ll be in it for many, many to come.”

Other attendees included Paul Godfrey, CEO of Postmedia Network Inc. The VIPs stood side-by-side for pictures, before cutting the ceremonial ribbon to wild applause.

As for Mel Lastman, he couldn’t be happier about Canada’s newest Bad Boy store.

“I think we’ll be here longer than [the current] two and a half years,” he said. “I think we’ll be here for the next ten years.”

And then, as promised, Toronto’s former mayor turned to the cameras and grinned.

“Who’s better than Bad Boy? No-o-o-o-body!”