Toronto mayor admits he has smoked crack
Print Edition
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has admitted that he smoked crack cocaine but insisted he’s not an addict and says he will stay in office and run for reelection next year.
Speaking just days after Toronto’s police chief confirmed that police have recovered a copy of a video that two media organizations have said shows the mayor smoking the drug, Ford said on Tuesday he smoked crack about a year ago.
“Yes I have smoked crack cocaine ... probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago,” he told reporters outside his office.
Later, he returned to address the media with an emotional formal statement. “To the residents of Toronto, I know I have let you down, and I can’t do anything else but apologize,” he said.
Elected in 2010 on a cost-cutting platform, Ford has been able to maintain strong voter support in his suburban base even as the scandal has escalated. A poll taken after Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed the existence of the video put Ford’s approval rating at 44 percent, up five points from a previous poll.
But while Ford’s popular support has held strong, his once rock-solid supporters at City Hall have started wavering.
City councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said he will bring a motion to the next city council meeting asking Ford to take a leave of absence. Council does not have the power to force Ford out of office.
“It is very disappointing to have the mayor of the City of Toronto admit to smoking crack cocaine,” he said. “I was disappointed at two levels: firstly that he did it, but secondly that it took him so long to admit it.”
Another motion circulating at City Hall seeks to restrict Ford’s ability to remove people from his executive committee and other standing committees.
Ford has already apologized for “mistakes” in his past, admitting to being “hammered” at a street festival this summer and drunk at City Hall after-hours on St. Patrick’s Day last year.
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