Toronto Mayor Rob Ford: Crack cocaine video 'does not exist'

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has denied allegations he was caught on camera smoking crack cocaine.

"I cannot comment on a video that I've never seen or that does not exist," he told reporters.
Mr Ford's remarks came a week after the Toronto Star newspaper and US news website Gawker reported they had viewed a video in which he smoked the drug.

He said he did not use the drug and was not an addict, but did not say whether he had ever smoked it.
Mr Ford said the previous week had "not been an easy one", and he accused the news media of judging him without evidence.
"It has taken a great toll on my family and my friends and the great people of Toronto," he said.

The mayor's first extended remarks on the rumours that have roiled politics in Canada's largest city came as senior aides were putting pressure him to address the allegations.
"If the mayor has another version, he should be out there putting that forward," Mr Holyday said earlier on Friday. "To sit back and hope it goes away, I don't think is the answer."
Councilman Gary Crawford said: "From the city's perspective, we need to get to the bottom of this."

The video has not been released publicly and has not been verified. The Toronto Star newspaper and US news and gossip website Gawker report it was shot by men who claimed they sold crack cocaine to the mayor. Gawker has launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise $200,000 to buy it, though it now says it has lost contact with the people in possession of the footage.

On Wednesday, the mayor was removed as volunteer head coach of a high school football team, the Don Bosco Eagles, by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. No explanation was given.
And the following day the mayor sacked his chief of staff, Mark Towhey, but gave no explanation for his dismissal. Afterwards, Mr Towhey said he had not resigned.

So we still do not know if it is all a smear campaign dreamed up by opponents....or tabloids with nothing better to do than invent dirty gossip. Of course there is also the possibility the rumors are true and Ford managed to procure the video and destroy it somehow. But why would a man in that position endanger his career and reputation...not to mention, disgrace himself, his wife and his children ?  I have heard that the truth will always out, eventually, but frankly, I've always doubted that.