Mayor Ford will remain in office despite crack cocaine admission

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he’ll stay in office despite the stunning admission that he used crack cocaine about a year ago.

“I was elected to do a job and that’s exactly what I’m going to continue to do,” he said during an emotional news conference at city hall on Tuesday afternoon.

Ford said he embarrassed everyone in the city, will forever be sorry and has only himself to blame for the mess but he’s staying put.

Furthermore, he said during the municipal election next October, “I want the people of this great city to decide whether they want Rob Ford to be their mayor.” (Click here to read his full statement.)

Ford made the shocking crack admission earlier in the day.

“Yes I have smoked crack cocaine,” Ford told stunned reporters at city hall.

Ford added that he doesn’t currently smoke crack and he’s not an addict, but has experimented with the drug.

“Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago” Ford said. “Yes, I’ve made mistakes. All I can do now is apologize and move on…it was a couple isolated incidents.”

It’s not yet clear what prompted the mayor to make the admission after months of denial but a report says his staff was caught completely by surprise by the admission.

Ford’s attorney Dennis Morris said the mayor felt “tremendous frustration” with the ongoing saga, and said he came forward because “he wants to move on.”

Ford went into a closed-door meeting with deputy mayor Norm Kelly immediately after making the admission and Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong penned a motion asking him to take a leave of absence to “address his personal issues.” It will be tabled at a Nov. 13 council meeting.

The motion, backed by Coun. Peter Milczyn, also asks that Ford apologize for misleading the city. Both Minnan-Wong and Milczyn are members of the mayor’s executive committee.

Coun. Joe Mihevc said, “You can’t invent this stuff. It’s beyond bizarre,” while Coun. Jaye Robinson said the mayor “doesn’t have a shred of credibility.”

Before Ford admitted to smoking crack Tuesday, councillors John Filion and Paul Ainslie said they would table a motion taking away Ford’s power to remove the deputy mayor and councillors from committee.

While the political ramifications continue to snowball at city hall, legal ramifications could be looming as well.

Police spokesman Mark Pugash said, “In response to the admission made by Mayor Ford this afternoon, police advise this information will be passed on to investigators.” He declined further comment.

Criminal lawyer Joseph Neuberger said police could charge Ford but that the chances were slim.

“Technically on an admission of past consumption of an illicit substance like crack cocaine, there is a possibility that police could have reasonable ground to lay a charge,” he told CityNews.

But he said it wouldn’t be easy because even with his admission there’s no indication of the quantity or when and where the incident occurred.

“It’s a very slim chance he’d ever get charged,” he said.

Ford first became linked to crack use after Gawker and reporters from the Toronto Star said they were approached by a man attempting to sell a video that showed Ford smoking what appeared to be crack.

Last week, police chief Bill Blair told reporters that the video was recovered from a computer hard drive and said media depictions of its contents were accurate.

Ford reiterated Tuesday that he “wants to see the tape” and stressed that he doesn’t know what it shows.

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