Mayor Rob Ford stays mum about latest video to emerge online
Mayor 'keeps all his political promises,' brother says
The latest video involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has left some wondering if he had been drinking when it was recorded, though the city’s chief magistrate is not saying much about it.
Over the weekend, CTV News broadcast a video that reportedly shows Ford swearing and slurring his words.
CTV reported that the video was recorded outside Toronto City Hall on Saturday night after a woman approached Ford about taking a picture with her son. It was shortly after that point that the woman reportedly observed Ford slurring his words and swearing — though the video shown on CTV bleeped out the exact words that he said. Some people can be heard laughing in the recording.
On Monday, Ford did not respond to reporters’ questions as to whether he had been drinking.
But his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, who sported an oversized green bow tie for St. Patrick’s Day, told reporters that the mayor "keeps his promises."
When the councillor was then asked if the mayor keeps all his promises related to drinking, he clarified by saying: "He keeps all his political promises."
The mayor had publicly sworn off drinking last November, telling the CBC's Peter Mansbridge that he had a "come-to-Jesus moment" that had made him re-evaluate his behaviour.
That was the same month in which Ford publicly admitted to having smoked crack cocaine, after denying that for months.
In January, Ford admitted to having consumed alcohol on the night in which a different video was recorded — one that showed the mayor speaking in a Jamaican patois at Etobicoke’s Steak Queen restaurant.
Ford’s crack-use admission drew attention from media around the world and made the mayor the subject of late-night monologues and Saturday Night Live skits.
The mayor is currently in the midst of a re-election bid, in a mayoral race that has already drawn more than three dozen contenders. Among the high-profile candidates seeking his job are former Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow, former Ontario PC leader John Tory, former city councillor David Soknacki and Coun. Karen Stintz.
Ford, who spent 10 years on city council before being elected mayor, will turn 45 in May.