Toronto Mayor Rob Ford does not have drinking problem, Councillor Doug Ford says

Councillor Doug Ford says Mayor Rob Ford does not have a problem with alcohol or drugs.

The Star reported Tuesday that the mayor has struggled with alcohol abuse, has been encouraged by his staff to enter a rehabilitation program, and was asked to leave a major gala event last month over concerns that he was intoxicated.

Doug Ford denounced the Star in an interview with AM640’s John Oakley on Tuesday morning.

“The Toronto Star can’t stand Rob Ford,” Doug Ford said. “Their main goal is, number one, to sell newspapers, but number two to get Rob Ford out of office.”

Doug Ford did not specifically deny that the mayor was encouraged to leave the gala, has rebuffed the concerns of his aides, or was escorted out of a downtown bar on St. Patrick’s Day last year. But he said the mayor does not have a problem with substance abuse, and he said the Star story has “no” credibility.

“The Toronto Star is going to continue attacking and attacking all the way to the next election,” Doug Ford said. “Let the people decide, if the people think that Rob Ford did a good job, if the people feel that he returned every single phone call.”

Rob Ford, surrounded by aides, walked quickly from an elevator through a gauntlet of reporters and into his office shortly after 10 a.m. Asked if he was kicked out of the gala, Ford said: "It's nonsense.” Ford ignored a reporter who asked if he has a problem with alcohol, and he continued into his office.

“For the record, the mayor was not asked to leave the gala” Ford's press secretary George Christopoulos later told reporters.

Ford is scheduled to present a key to the city to George Chuvalo, the retired boxer and now anti-drug campaigner, at 11 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

A close ally of the mayor, Councillor Paul Ainslie, told the Star that he encouraged the mayor’s chief of staff, Mark Towhey, to have the mayor leave the gala, the Toronto Garrison Ball, in late February. Towhey did not comment; Doug Ford told Oakley that Ainslie, a member of the event’s 13-member organizing committee, “did not even talk to Rob Ford.”

“He didn’t even speak to him that night,” Doug Ford said. “It was from someone else who told Paul Ainslie that told someone else.”

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said he has never seen the mayor take a drink or appear impaired at any event. Asked what he thinks of the Star article, he said, “Well, I don’t know. The Star has its sources, and certainly, anything that comes up about the mayor makes front page in the Star. So I guess we can take it for what it is.”

He added: “I guess it’s just a never-ending thing that seems to happen with the mayor that every day we wake up there’s a new story. Some of them seem to have credibility and some of them don’t. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see on this one.”

Holyday said he doesn’t know if Ford was asked to leave the gala, or any details about the evening, but does not believe the Star’s reporting. He said Ford is “shy,” and sometimes “doesn’t seem to adapt to it well” when he is in a group setting.

Six people who attended the gala provided accounts of the mayor’s behaviour on condition of anonymity. They told the Star that Ford was “incoherent,” “stumbling,” “rambling,” “intoxicated,” “slurring,” “seemed to be drunk,” and “was nervous, excited, sweaty, out of it.”

Three members of the organizing committee said Ford was asked to leave because he appeared impaired. One said, “He seemed either drunk, high or had a medical condition.”

Mark McQueen, the chair of the Toronto Port Authority and the co-chair of the event, said he saw no reason Ford would have been asked to leave. A real estate agent who was in attendance said Ford did not seem impaired when she spoke with him briefly.

Holyday said, “I think the story would have a lot more credibility, first off, if it had the names of the individuals making the accusations attached to it.”

Doug Ford suggested that his brother, who has faced a series of expensive legal battles, will not sue the Star over the story.

“Johnny, that’s their plan,” he told Oakley. “They want to drag us into another lawsuit and then it’s going to be about Rob Ford suing the Star for the next two years.”

At Queen’s Park, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, a political ally of the mayor, chose his words carefully when responding to questions about the Ford revelations.

“I have nothing to add to the Star story today,” Hudak told reporters.

“I can simply judge the mayor by the results he’s achieved. He’s actually reduced spending at city hall. That’s an accomplishment I’d like to see here in the province of Ontario. He got affordable deals with the unions and actually has helped to reduce all the runaway spending we saw at city hall under the previous government. I’ll judge him by his results.”

Asked if he had “ever seen any sign” of the behaviour outlined in the Star, Hudak said: “Listen, I have nothing to add to the story.”

Privately, several senior Conservatives said Tuesday that they were not surprised by the front-page account of Ford’s drinking.

“People are worried about him. This is a health issue,” said one Tory. Another confided that Ford’s friends have long expressed concern that his personal activities may be affecting his job.

With files from Robert Benzie