After new details emerged yesterday about pseudo-mayor Rob Ford’s alleged involvement in gang activity, blackmail and maybe even heroin use, the usual avalanche of reaction followed. This time around, though, there was a sense of Ford fatigue among commentators—a sigh-laden resignation to the likelihood that they’ll all be asked to react again sooner or later, and that they’ve already used up their most colourful adjectives. Here, nonetheless, are the key reactions to this Thursday’s news.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
“If there’s anybody left in Toronto who expects [Ford] to tell the truth, they should probably get a drug test. It’s astonishing his capacity to distort reality.” —Adam Vaughan, city councillor
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate to comment on the evidence. Our job is to put it before the court...There are a number of criminal prosecutions that have yet to take place.” — Bill Blair, police chief
“What’s done is done. I can’t do anything about it. There was a poll done in my ward and Ford is way ahead of Chow.” —Doug Ford, city councillor and Rob Ford’s brother, to CP24
“How [Ford] could believe that denying the existence of a video showing him smoking crack—that he must have known existed—would solve the problem, is impossible to comprehend. What it all suggests, at a minimum, is that Ford no longer deserves to be the mayor of Toronto. Not now. Not ever.” —Toronto Sun editorial board
“It’s not an allegation that this was said. This was said. There’s no question that these things [reported in the police documents] were said.” —Stephen LeDrew, CP24 host
“Maybe each one of these incidents where he demonstrates his arrogance, his lack of judgement, will strengthen the people’s commitment to see the backside of him, whether it’s now or whether it’s in 2014.” —Janet Davis, city councillor
“It could be more than crack cocaine. Cocaine, heroin, all these other illegal substances. The mayor has to give a full disclosure of what his involvement is with those drugs and with those gang members.” —Denzil Minnan-Wong, city councillor
“You don’t get marks for confessing after you’ve been caught...I think we’re entitled to the whole story at this point.” —Peter Jacobsen, lawyer for the media who argued for the release of the documents
“The way [Ford] tried to get that video, I hope the police are looking at that from a criminality perspective. This should not be tolerated in a fair and democratic society.” —Joe Mihevc, city councillor
“This was the most microscopic investigation in police history. Probably cost hundreds of thousands, if not a million or more. They followed [Ford] for weeks and weeks without finding anything involving any criminal allegation...The police should be held accountable for this.” —Dennis Morris, Rob Ford’s lawyer
“Toronto likes to consider itself a world-class city. Just imagine if the mayor of New York, Chicago or Boston had acted like Rob Ford. Can you ever envision the leaders of those cities remaining so silent? It is simply unimaginable. Toronto deserves better.” —John Honderich, chair of Torstar Corporation
“You walk around carrying too many secrets that are shared with too many unsavoury characters, you put yourself in a position that no one would want to find themselves in.” —John Parker, city councillor
“There’s nothing really in here that will shock at this point...the police have clearly had all this information on Ford for some time, and they haven’t acted. Why would they now?" —Matt Gurney, National Post columnist
(Images: Vaughan, Doug Ford, Davis, Minnan-Wong, Mihevc, Parker: City of Toronto; Gurney: National Post; Honderich: Toronto Star; Morris, Jacobsen, LeDrew: CP24/screencap; Blair: TPS/screencap)
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