All day Friday, while the city absorbed the news that drug dealers have been shopping a cellphone video that appears to show Ford smoking crack cocaine about town, the mayor had every chance to refute these extraordinary allegations. Allies and critics alike on city council called on him urgently to deal with them head on.
In the end, all he had to offer were two sentences uttered in passing as he was hustled past a throng of reporters. It’s “ridiculous,” he said. It’s “the Toronto Star going after me” again. “And that’s all I have to say.”
Sorry, Mr. Mayor. The cloud over the city’s top executive is large and dark. It needs to be cleared, and if that’s all you’ve got to say, it’s not going to do the job.
It’s possible there is some alternate explanation for what’s on the cellphone video. Two reporters from the Star, Kevin Donovan and Robyn Doolittle, have seen it, as has the editor of the Gawker website. All say it appears to show Mayor Ford inhaling from a glass crack pipe, acting erratically, speaking incoherently and making various vulgar remarks.
But it’s true, as Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said on Friday, that videos can be manipulated. And the men who made this one are involved in the drug trade and trying to make money off it.
There remain doubts about what the video really shows — doubts that Ford should have put to rest as soon as possible. Instead, he passed up that opportunity in favour of a couple of throw-away lines. Torontonians can draw their own conclusions from that.
The city has become sadly familiar with this mayor’s troubling pattern of personal behaviour. In March, he was asked to leave a gala because he appeared to be impaired. Shortly before that, a former mayoral candidate accused him of improper behaviour at another public event, and he showed up dishevelled at yet another gathering and awkwardly delivered a pro-casino rant. An incident last year at a downtown restaurant also raised concern about Ford’s drinking, according to sources cited by the Star.
Long before that, Ford was involved in a drunken tirade against a Toronto couple at a hockey game, and pleaded no-contest to a drunk driving charge in Florida. The pattern was always the same: he denied everything until overwhelming evidence forced him to confess.
Of course, the behaviour suggested by what appears to be on the cellphone video is far worse than any of the previous episodes. The behaviour it depicts, if true, is illegal. Somehow a video apparently showing the mayor in a highly compromising position came into the possession of drug dealers. This is a matter for police to investigate; indeed, Toronto police say they are “monitoring the situation closely.”
The stakes for the city in all this are high. Even leaving aside his personal issues, Ford has conspicuously failed to rise to the challenge of leading Canada’s biggest city. The past 18 months have seen a sorry parade of Ford Follies — the mayor caught pressuring city staff to work on behalf of his family business; skipping work to coach high school football; flouting conflict-of-interest laws and almost getting himself thrown out of office; and threatening to punch a reporter.
Meanwhile, he’s bungled the big public issues, from waterfront development to transit and suffered defeat after defeat on his own agenda (the latest being the almost-certain demise of his push for a downtown casino). With the mayor distracted and often absent, city council is adrift. At a time when decisions are being made about our city and region that will have an impact for generations to come, Toronto has no effective or coherent voice under this mayor. It’s attracting international attention — but for all the wrong reasons.
Toronto needs leadership, and after 2 1/2 years with this mayor at the helm it’s clear he’s in no position to provide it. Ford’s unwillingness or inability to provide clear answers to the shocking allegations in the cellphone video are just the latest demonstration of this sad fact.
For the sake of the city, and for his own personal wellbeing, the mayor needs to step down and move quickly to clear the air.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Editorial
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