Mayor Rob Ford ought to take a break from City Hall, Ward 39 councillor Mike Del Grande said after Toronto police confirmed they have recovered a video that depicts the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine.
On Oct. 31, Police Chief Bill Blair addressed the media about a video that police had come into possession of through an investigation surrounding Ford’s friend and occasional driver Alexander Lisi.
The mayor needs to step aside. He needs to stop having his face show up on every newspaper in Toronto.
—Coun. Mike Del Grande
“Resigning is up to him,” Del Grande said. “I still think the mayor needs to step aside. He needs to stop having his face show up on every newspaper in Toronto.”
The Scarborough-Agincourt councillor isn’t alone.
“We have someone running our city that’s doing [this] and we’re accepting it or allowing it or tolerating it,” Scarborough local Aisha Farooq said. “When he was running for mayor of the city, he shouldn’t have even been a candidate, he should’ve dropped out.”
The video, which first made headlines after Gawker.com and the Toronto Star broke the story in May, has generated a media circus surrounding the mayor.
“It has been impacting business,” Del Grande said. “The story isn’t about what is getting done at city council or what good is being done here.
“The story is about him and Toronto is bigger than him.”
University of Toronto Scarborough student Guled Arale agreed, adding the mayor should step down.
“It’s really unfortunate how this is going,” he said. “Because of the distraction in City Hall, it kind of takes away from … the important decisions they need to make.
“It would be best for Rob Ford to resign and the actual city work will continue.”