Crack-smoking Toronto mayor loses some of his powers ‘for good of city’

The motion, approved 39-3, suspends Mr Ford’s authority to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and his executive committee, which runs the budget process.

John Filion, the councillor who introduced the motion, has said the goal is to prevent Mr Ford from firing executive committee members who speak out against him.

An unusually subdued Mr Ford vowed to fight the motion in court. “I can’t support this and obviously I have no other options but to challenge this in court,” the mayor said.

The vote came a day after yet another series of antics from Mr Ford that outraged city councillors, anti-drunk driving advocates and even Toronto’s football team. Most councillors are frustrated by his refusal to step aside since he admitted last week to smoking crack, but they lack the authority to force him out of office unless he is convicted of a crime.

In the span of a few hours on Thursday, Mr Ford used obscene language to deny that he pressured a female employee for oral sex, admitted that he had driven while drinking and then apologised for his vulgarity and said he was seeking professional help, though he refused to give details.

“We need to take away his power for the good of the city,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a former ally. “The tide has turned and there are very few people that are prepared to defend him given his vulgar comments and his admission that not only does he takes drugs but that he seems to be comfortable drinking and getting behind the wheel.”

In May, news reports first surfaced of a video showing Mr Ford smoking crack.

After months of evading the question, the mayor admitted to having done so when Toronto police announced they had obtained the video during a massive drug investigation that has ensnared a close friend of his.

Former aides allege that the mayor has been frequently drunk on the job and a video showed him threatening to kill someone in an incoherent rant.