Embattled, gaffe-prone Toronto Mayor Rob Ford vowed to take legal action ahead of a crucial vote by City Council today that would strip away his remaining mayoral powers.
The Toronto City Council voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favour of two motions that limited Ford’s powers to appoint and fire the chairs of the city’s standing committees and delegated the mayor’s powers in an emergency situation to the deputy mayor.
The council is preparing to vote today on a motion delegating to the deputy mayor “all powers and duties which are not by statute assigned to the mayor.”
If as expected the motion is passed, Ford would get the same office budget as a city councillor, losing all his staff, and would no longer have the right to vote in any standing committee.
“This is going to be precedent-setting, and if we move ahead with this, then, obviously, if someone else steps out of line like I have, it’s going to affect councillors and the mayor I think for years to come,” Ford said.
Under Ontario law, no one can remove Ford from power unless he is charged and convicted of serious crimes. But Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she was ready to step in.
“If council were to clearly indicate that they lack the ability to function as a result of this matter, the province would respond to a request from council to be provided new tools, depending on what that request might be,” Wynne said.
The mayor of Canada’s largest city said, however, that he held no grudge against anyone.
“If I would have had a mayor acting the way I’ve conducted myself, I would have done the exact same thing,” Ford said. “I’m not mad at anybody. I take full responsibility.”
Ford’s subdued tone was in sharp contrast to his foul-mouthed and combative outbursts on Thursday as he tried to limit the damage to his already shaky reputation by fresh allegations of alcohol abuse and drug-fuelled nights with prostitutes.
Ford said he would sue former press secretary George Christopolous, former assistant Isaac Ransom and former chief of staff Mark Towhey and a restaurant waiter who had made the allegations to police investigating reports of a video showing Ford smoking crack cocaine.
In one of his characteristically off-the-cuff comments, Ford dug himself even deeper into a public-relations nightmare hole as he tried to address allegations that he made sexually explicit comments to a female staffer at a booze- and cocaine-fuelled St Patrick’s Day party in 2012.
“The revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts and prostitution has pushed me over the line, and I used unforgivable language, and I apologise,” Ford said. “This allegations are 100% lies. When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red.”
Ford said he was receiving unspecified help from healthcare professionals to deal with his personal problems.
Last week, after months of denial, he admitted having smoked crack, saying it was probably during a “drunken stupor” and apologised. Two days later he had to apologise again after another video surfaced in which he was heard threatening to kill someone in a profanity-laced tirade.