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Deputy mayor: videos “inconclusive”

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday spent one of his few remaining days at City Hall defending Rob Ford on Monday, telling reporters that video of the mayor at a street festival last week was “inconclusive” and wasn’t proof that the chief magistrate was drunk in public.

Amateur video taken near the Taste of the Danforth Friday night shows a boisterous Ford slurring his words and swaying from side to side as he greets festvial-goers, and has renewed speculation about problems in the mayor’s personal life. On his radio show Sunday, Ford admitted to having “a couple of beers” at the festival and apologized to anyone he may have offended, but suggested the incident had been “blown out of proportion.”

The footage, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online, prompted media to camp outside the mayor’s office on Monday morning, but Ford was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his staff brought out Holyday, who will vacate his council position after this week to take a seat in the provincial legislature, having won a by-election in Etobicoke-Lakeshore earlier this month.

Holyday told media that little about Ford’s state could be gleaned from the cell phone videos, which he said were poor quality recordings. “I thought they were inconclusive. I really couldn’t determine a lot of what was being said and who’s saying it actually,” Holyday said.

The outgoing deputy mayor reiterated a claim that many of Ford’s allies have made in the past, saying he had never personally seen the mayor take a drink or appear intoxicated.

“But even if he did have a couple of drinks, as long as he wasn’t out of line, as long as he wasn’t driving his vehicle while he was drinking, or anything like that, he’s human like the rest of us,” Holyday offered.

On Sunday Ford said that he drove himself to the festival but had a staffer drive him home. When NOW asked Holyday if he was satisfied that Ford hadn’t been driving while inebriated, he became irritated.

“There’s another one of those exaggerations,” he said.

“No one is saying that he was behind the wheel inebriated, you [the media] or nobody else that I’ve talked to,” he continued. He added that “the mayor could solve a lot of his problems if he just had a driver.”

In an interview with Newstalk1010 earlier in the day, the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, also played down the events of Friday night.

“No one got hurt, no one was offended. And if anyone was, he apologized,” said Councillor Ford. “Big friggin’ deal, he had a couple of beers.”

But the councillor gave conflicting accounts of his understanding of where and when the mayor consumed alcohol Friday night. At least one witness reported that the mayor already appeared intoxicated before he arrived the festival. Mala Turay, who posted several of the videos from that night, said he first encountered Ford next to his parked Cadillac Escalade several blocks from the Danforth at around 9:30 pm, and he already appeared unsteady on his feet.

At one point Councillor Ford told the radio station that his brother “had a few beers at the Danforth, not before.” Later, Councillor Ford suggested the mayor had been drinking with local residents on the way to the festival. “He went down there, I guess he went into some houses, he had a few beers, and no one got hurt,” he said.

When the interviewer pressed him, the councillor replied “You’re quizzing me like a cop, here. I don’t know exactly where he had the beers.”

Meanwhile, in light of Ford’s behaviour at the festival, one councillor is renewing her call for Ford to take a leave of absence to sort out what she believes are serious personal problems. Jaye Robinson first urged the mayor to step aside in May, following bombshell allegations that he was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine. They came on the heels of a March Toronto Star story that alleged Ford was battling a serious alcohol addiction.

Ford has denied smoking crack cocaine or having a drinking problem, claiming both reports were trumped up by journalists who are hostile to his political agenda. But on Monday, Robinson claimed that his conduct at the Taste of the Danforth confirms that the mayor has issues he needs to address.

“It kind of got quiet for a few weeks there, and I… was hoping that was an indication that he had resolved these issues,” she said, “but clearly he hasn’t. So, it’s unfortunate.”

“He needs to lead by example if he wants to represent me and the rest of Toronto,” she continued. “I think people are weary of these distractions and disruptions, and he needs to take pause and address it.”

But few council members are joining Robinson in asking Ford to step down temporarily. Councillor Mary Fragedakis was at the Taste of the Danforth, which takes place in her ward, all weekend. She saw Mayor Ford from a distance on Friday night and did not notice anything unusual. In an interview with NOW she said she had not seen the videos of the mayor and couldn’t say whether he has a problem.

“I don’t want to comment on what other people saw. Unless I see it, I don’t want to speculate,” she said. “It’s just hearsay, right?”

Fragedakis expressed her wish that the festival’s record-breaking attendance of 1.5 million people would have received more attention than it did, but wouldn’t blame the controversy surrounding the mayor’s behaviour for causing a distraction.

“We still had record attendance, a lot of the food stalls sold out…So I don’t think it takes away from people’s enjoyment or the fact that it was a great event,” she said.

Councillor Shelley Carroll said she couldn’t say whether Ford was intoxicated on Friday, but questioned why he appeared to be walking near the festival alone before meeting up with his staff and a coterie of police.

“I don’t know his blood alcohol level, but I know that we have a right to have expectations of professionalism around how he arranges and then attends a major event such as the Taste of the Danforth,” Carroll said.

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