Rob Ford’s friend count is dropping fast

Although Rob Ford is calling it the “best budget in Toronto’s history,” the 2013 budget process has certainly diminished the mayor’s inner circle (which was already down one with Giorgio Mammoliti’s recent departure). Mike Del Grande resigned as budget chief yesterday after the meeting, following through on threats to quit if council added spending to the budget (they did). Del Grande railed at Ford for effectively voting against the budget that he’d worked with the mayor to prepare, saying “I thought it was a mistake…you don’t do something like that.” Meanwhile, Denzil Minnan-Wong, another executive committee member, also slammed Ford for that voting misstep, and deputy mayor Doug Holyday accused councillors of lacking “backbone” for caving to pressure and voting to allot extra money to firefighters—something Ford himself did. Heck, the mayor’s list of friends is now so short that he’s even stooping to hanging out with Adam Vaughan. [Globe and Mail]

Update: In a lunchtime interview, Del Grande told CP24 he’d return to the job if council showed him some love and unanimously voted to ask him back. He admitted, however, “the probabilities of that are next to none.”