Mayor's 'crack video' causing a stir in Canada
A video purportedly of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack has caused an uproar in Canada. Mr Ford yesterday called the allegations “ridiculous”.
The video has not been released publicly, and there is no way to verify whether it is authentic.
Reports by gossip website Gawker and the Toronto Star said it was taken by a man who claimed he had sold crack to Mr Ford.
The conservative mayor of Canada’s largest city refused to take questions yesterday. In brief comments outside his office, he said it was “another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me. And that’s all I’ve got to say for now.”
A lawyer for the colourful, often unscripted Mr Ford did not respond to messages seeking comment. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said investigators were “monitoring the situation closely”.
The Star reported that two reporters watched a video that appears to show Mr Ford, sitting in a chair, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. The Star said it did not obtain the video or pay to watch it.
The Star also reported that Mr Ford made an anti-gay slur against the leader of the federal Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
Mr Ford later appeared yesterday at a previously scheduled ceremony marking International Day Against Homophobia.
He has been embroiled in controversies about his behaviour since being elected in 2010, but these are the most serious allegations that he has faced yet.
The Toronto Star reported earlier this year that he was asked to leave a gala fundraiser for wounded Canadian soldiers because he appeared intoxicated.
During his campaign for mayor, Mr Ford held a news conference to discuss a 1999 arrest for marijuana possession in Florida. He ultimately pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and failing to give a breath sample to police.
While in office, he has been accused of flouting conflict of interest rules and making obscene gestures at residents from his car.
Mr Ford, a city councillor for years, once said Toronto would be better off if it did not accept more immigrants. Half of the city’s population was born outside Canada.
Toronto deputy mayor Doug Holyday questioned the authenticity of the video, saying “video can be altered” and “drug dealers can’t be trusted”.
Mr Holyday said he has not spoken to Ford or his staff since the allegations surfaced, but noted he still believes in the mayor “at this point”.
He said: “I wouldn’t want my career or my credibility resting on the word of drug dealers.”
The controversy has drawn comparisons to the 1990 arrest of then-Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who was videotaped smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room during an FBI sting operation.
Barry served six months in federal prison on a drug possession conviction and later won a fourth term as mayor in 1994.
