TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford vowed yesterday he would stay away from drugs, alcohol and “bad company” as he tries to rebound from a drug scandal that prompted city council to strip away much of his power.
Ford, who insists he is neither an alcoholic nor a drug addict, said he had not had a drink in three weeks.
Asked on Toronto news channel CP24 if he had stopped drinking completely, he said: “Guaranteed. 100 per cent.”
Ford made the comments one day after the city council voted to remove much of his power. Several of his key staff announced yesterday they would leave and begin working for the deputy mayor, who will take on more responsibility.
Ford, who has admitted to smoking crack cocaine, buying illegal drugs and driving after drinking alcohol, also said he would not use drugs again and answered in the affirmative when asked if he would stay away from “bad company.”
While the scandal involving the mayor has largely swirled around his admission that he had smoked crack, he has also been the subject of a police investigation which photographed him in several meetings with his friend and part-time driver Sandro Lisi, who now faces drug and extortion charges. Ford was elected in 2010 on a cost-cutting, low-tax platform, and he remains popular in some suburbs of Toronto.
While Ford has faced much criticism from city politicians, members of Canada’s Conservative federal government have until now been far less vocal.
But on Tuesday one of the most powerful cabinet members, Employment Minister Jason Kenney, called for his resignation.
“Mr Ford has brought dishonour to public office, and the office of mayor and his city,” he told reporters, while noting that this was a municipal and not a federal affair, and that this was his personal point of view.
