The bitter feud between the Ford brothers and Toronto’s police chief reached remarkable new heights Thursday as the mayor dared Bill Blair to put up or shut up: “If he’s going to arrest me, arrest me. I have done nothing wrong.”
Rob Ford made the incendiary remarks during a dramatic news conference where the mayor and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, upped their attacks on the police chief, accusing Blair of “breaking the law” and working for top mayoral rival John Tory.
“He’s embarrassed? How about him embarrassing my family, my kids, my community, my friends. Following me around for five months, spending millions of dollars using taxpayers’ money, coming in my office, trying to politicize things,” Mayor Ford said Thursday afternoon. “If there’s anyone who owes an apology, he owes an apology to the taxpayers.”
Blair sparked the latest wave of attacks after telling media on Wednesday he was “disgusted” by Ford’s inebriated, profanity-laced rant about him at an Etobicoke restaurant in January where the mayor used a sexual expletive in describing the police chief.
“There’s nothing illegal. I can go out and (choose) to do that with my friends. I did nothing illegal,” Mayor Ford said Thursday.
“I do not owe him an apology.”
The police investigation into Ford was all “game playing,” the mayor said.
The mayor would not comment on police finding a video of him smoking crack cocaine (an illegal drug) or arresting his friend, Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, for drug dealing as part of their investigation.
“I’ve already addressed these concerns,” the mayor said.
Agencies/Canadajournal