‘Crack pipe’ mayor of Toronto Rob Ford ‘no reason to quit’
Calls for Toronto’s mayor Rob Ford to resign intensify as police in Canada say they have obtained the video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe.
Toronto police revealed they have a video that appears to match one allegedly showing the city’s mayor, Rob Ford, smoking crack cocaine, but they will not confirm what the video shows, or whether they are contemplating charges against Ford.
In a briefing on Thursday, police chief Bill Blair identified Ford as a subject in a video that police recovered during a drug investigation called Project Brazen 2.
“We are now in possession of a recovered digital video file relevant to the investigations that have been conducted. That file contains video images, which appear to be those images which were previously reported in the press,” Blair said.
It’s fair to say that the mayor does appear in that video, but I’m not going to get into the detail.
He added: “It’s fair to say that the mayor does appear in that video, but I’m not going to get into the detail of what activity is depicted in that video.”
In reports that have dominated Toronto’s political scene for months, US media blog Gawker and the Toronto Star newspaper said in May that their reporters were shown a video that appeared to show Ford smoking crack cocaine.
Ford insists he does not use the drug. Speaking before the media, he said he regretted the fact that he cannot publicly defend himself.
“I think everyone has seen the allegations against me today. I wish I could come out and defend myself, but unfortunately I can’t because it’s before the courts and that’s all I can say right now.”
He insisted that he has no intention of resigning from office.