New Rob Ford videos raise concerns at city hall

ABOVE: Global’s Jackson Proskow reports on the surprise, disappointment, and doubt swirling around City Hall after two new videos of Mayor Rob Ford were posted on Youtube

TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford‘s behaviour outside city hall and whether he is fit for office is yet again being questioned after two new videos of him were posted on Youtube.

Ford admitted Tuesday of drinking after a video emerged of him rambling profanely inside a Toronto restaurant.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who viewed portions of the video, called it “regrettable.”

“It doesn’t help him in his efforts to recover,” said Kelly at city hall on Tuesday. “I would give him today, the same advice that I gave him previously and that’s to take a pause and seek professional help.”

“He’s got to do a lot of soul searching, I think in the next few days. And if it’s happened once, it may happen again.”

And Kelly issued a statement Wednesday saying councillors “cannot be distracted by the personal actions of others” while they debate the upcoming city budget.

Though Kelly hopes the video won’t be a distraction, Councillor Gary Crawford said it  obviously will be a distraction because of the “commotion” brought to city hall as a result.

He said the business of the city is still functioning.

“He’s doesn’t have any more powers. He’s a mayor in name only,” Crawford said.  “His family is saying that it’s not a problem, he’s made the guarantee already that he will not be doing alcohol again. He’s done that again. So does he have a problem? Yeah I think he does. He needs to deal with it.”

For months, Ford said he had stopped drinking after admitting to have smoked crack cocaine and after video surfaced of him in an apparent rage.

The mayor wouldn’t answer questions about the incident Tuesday before or after the executive committee meeting. While leaving the meeting for lunch, the mayor and his staff pushed their way through the crowd of reporters to get to his office.

“I don’t think it’s possible to do these jobs, if you are impaired in some way like that,” said radio host and Focus Ontario co-host John Tory on The Morning Show. “They’re very stressful, very high judgement quotient jobs, so you need to be at your best.”

Tory admits the Rob Ford “side show” is detracting from the work councillors are doing at city hall.

“In the end we can’t carry on this way,” Tory said. “We’ll see if this carries on until October or he takes some steps to deal with it himself.”

WATCH: Ford supporters standing by the Mayor despite latest video

Ford is running for re-election and is expected to face a stiff uphill climb to reclaim the mayor’s chair.

Meanwhile, the second video posted on Youtube appears to show the mayor with Alexander Lisi, who police charged last year with extortion.

It’s alleged Lisi tried to get his hands on the infamous video that appears to show Ford smoking crack cocaine.