COLIN MCCONNELL / TORONTO STAR
Mayor Rob Ford, left, and his brother Doug host their radio show from the Newstalk 1010 studio in this file photo from last fall.
They talked about football, hockey and Rob’s love of Baskin Robbins ice cream. They made a pitch for subways, attacked Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, and spent a significant chunk of their two-hour program bashing the media, before wrapping up with half a dozen calls from admirers — including one from an out-of-town woman who declared the brothers were “a couple of wonderful teddy bears.”
A casual listener might have thought this week’s episode Newstalk 1010’s The City was rather typical. But for those closely following the crack cocaine scandal unfolding out of city hall, it was clear Mayor Rob Ford used his weekly radio show to tell Torontonians he was still running the city.
Ford boasted about his “very busy week” at city hall, where he was made to tackle “very important issues.” He talked about attending executive committee, meeting with the auditor general about Toronto community housing, holding a press conference about flooding on the Don Valley Parkway and about being briefed on the dilapidated Dufferin bridge.
Ford had Stephen Buckley, the general manager of transportation, call into the show. And also highlighted some recent and upcoming charity work. The mayor also revealed that he has replaced four of the six staffers who left his office amid the controversy.
“I’m really happy to say that on Friday I hired four more people. The media is saying three. We hired another one. So we have four new team members. They’re excited. They’re pumped up,” said Ford.
It’s been a little over two weeks since the Star reported two of its reporters had viewed a 90-second video clip of the mayor appearing to smoke crack cocaine and utter a homophobic slur. American gossip website Gawker also reported seeing the video. The Star later revealed that Ford himself told senior aides not to worry about the footage being made public, because he knew where it is, according to sources.
Ford’s former chief of staff Mark Towhey went to Toronto Police, after the mayor’s operations and logistics director David Price — a longtime friend of the Ford family — told him: “Hypothetically,” if someone had told him where the video was, “What would we do?” sources say.
Ford has denied a video exists and said he does not use crack cocaine. Price has not responded to the allegations.
Councillor Doug Ford — who has repeatedly said he plans to run in the next provincial election as a Tory — also took a minute on the show to address comments made earlier this week by Progressive Conservative House Leader Jim Wilson.
On Thursday, Wilson told reporters: “He is not our candidate.” Wilson added: “I don’t even know the guy . . . personally I’ve never even met him.”
To this, the elder Ford brother said: “Jim Wilson made a comment that he's never talked to me before, well that's just not accurate. "
The mayor: “trying distance himself or something?”
Doug Ford then suggested he may not run for the province after all, saying that “I’ve always said if it wasn’t called in the Spring, I’d have to reconsider… Focus on the job at hand with Rob into the next (municipal) election.”
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