Toronto mayor vows to fight ‘outright war’
Print Edition
Mayor Rob Ford said Toronto’s City Council had no business stripping him of most of his powers over his crack cocaine use and heaving drinking, implying in a television interview aired yesterday that many councilors are no different from him.
The council voted overwhelmingly on Monday in favor of slashing Ford’s office budget by 60 percent and allowing mayoral staff to join Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly. Ford now effectively has no legislative power, as he will no longer chair the executive committee, though he retains his title and ability to represent Toronto at official functions.
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Ford accused city councilors of attacking him for personal reasons and suggested many of them were guilty of the same behavior he has admitted to.
“All they did was stab me in the back over issues, the same issues that I’ve admitted to that they do, but nobody knows about it,” he said.
He again denied he had a serious problem with alcohol, though he said he was getting help from “health care professionals on a number of issues” and promised the public would see a difference in him in five months.
Despite apologizing for his drug use and drinking, Ford has remained defiant in the face of pressure to resign since news reports emerged months ago that he had been caught on video smoking crack.
He has frequently lashed out at journalists and politicians, demanding to know whether they have ever used drugs, gotten behind the wheel drunk or otherwise misbehaved.
The mayor, elected three years ago on promises to curb public spending and keep taxes low, vowed “outright war” to take on his critics in next year’s election.
The debate on Monday became heated after Ford paced around the council chamber and traded barbs with onlookers.
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