Will Ford take a leave of absence?

There is a growing call for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to step down after police announced on Thursday they’ve recovered images from a video that appears to show Ford smoking from a crack pipe. The city’s Deputy Mayor says he hopes Mayor Ford makes “the right decision,” but didn’t say what that decision should be. Scot Urquhart is in Toronto with the latest from City Hall.

It’s been a day of intrigue and uncertainty here at Toronto City Hall, and it concluded, with a sombre statement from Toronto’s Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly.

It began with the information that the mayor would not be at City Hall Friday morning and soon after came word that his brother Doug was not at a key budget committee meeting regarding water and solid waste rates here in Toronto. It was not business as usual. As the day wore on, various councillors came and went through the hallways, very few of them speaking to the media. As all this was unfolding, word came that the Mayor, who had left his home earlier in the day, and his brother Doug had gone to the family home of his mother where they were joined by another brother, Randy Ford, apparently for a family discussion. Later in the day, Ford went to Deco Label, the family business, and did not attend City Hall. And while that was going on, the Mayor’s executive committee met in his office without him. And Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly promised to address the media later in the afternoon. That’s when it became clear that many councilors were no longer content to wait for the Mayor to make a move.