Ford addresses media about privacy

The latest on the chaos which has returned to Toronto City Hall.

The scene Wednesday reminded many of the scene seen over and over last year. Mayor Rob Ford faced a gauntlet of journalists searching for answers after another video surfaced Tuesday appearing to show the Mayor rambling and intoxicated. And after dodging questions all afternoon, the Mayor eventually relented and held a news conference just before this newscast. But his comments left a lot of questions unanswered: “As you know I’m a human being, the same as every one of you. And I’m entitled to a personal life. And my personal life does not interfere with the work I do day in and day out for the taxpayers of this great city. Monday, unfortunately, I had a minor setback. We all experience these difficult bumps in life. I am telling the Toronto residents that I’m still working hard every day to improve my health and my well being. But again, this is completely a private matter. There are some councillors who claim that my personal life is somehow impacting their work folks that is absolute nonsense. I’ll be happy to take questions on the budget only and if you have any other personal questions i will not be answering those. Thank you very much.”

Now, how private is the top magistrate of Toronto’s life when he puts on a drunken rage like the other night. In the first video, the Mayor seems to be up to his old tricks, stumbling around and mumbling nearly incoherently. But the most remarkable part of the video is a section where the mayor adopts a Jamaican accent and goes on a profanity laced rant, about Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

But perhaps the more disturbing video that surfaced this week, is one in which Ford appears to be having dinner with Sandro Lisi. He is the subject of an on-going police investigation and who is facing charges of extortion, for apparently threatening two drug dealers , in a bid to obtain the notorious “crack video” in which the Mayor is seen, allegedly smoking drugs.

Those videos sparked a wild scene this afternoon.

Mayor Ford: “They don’t care about the taxpayers I’m the only one that. Guys, you’re going to have to move. (reporter: Mayor Ford were you on illegal drugs monday night?). Move.”

Reporter: Mayor Ford, why were you meeting with Sandro Lisi? (scuffle) Ford: “Pushed me man.”

New questions arose Wednesday regarding the Mayor’s drinking habits and his claim just last week that he’d quit drinking. Well, Ford apparently changed his mind about that, and that’s raised some new concerns for Toronto councillors.

Ford has refused to answer any questions about the videos, and may be wondering about his friends at City Hall as well as Minnan-Wong ripped into the mayor publicly, at the executive committee meeting.

Ford called the proposed budget ‘the worst he’s ever seen’ to which Minnan-Wong replied that Ford himself initiated some of the budget spending proposals. He said Ford wasn’t being a leader; he was being a coward. Looks like the soap opera is back here at Toronto City hall.
Also Wednesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne weighed in on the renewed controversy surrounding Ford. She says she worries he’s distracting people from what Toronto has to offer: “What concerns me is that the City of Toronto is a wonderful jurisdiction. A wonderful, vibrant place to live, do business, raise a family, and it’s very important to me that people outside of the City of Toronto and outside of Ontario know that. And so to the degree that we’re not talking about what a wonderful place Toronto is, and the fact that it is a terrific place to bring business, that concerns me.”

Wynne says she hopes Ford seeks the help and support he needs.