Watch video above: Mayor Rob Ford spotted in Bracebridge two weeks after entering undisclosed rehab facility. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford was spotted in Gravenhurst Friday afternoon
The photos mark the first time the mayor has been photographed in public since taking a leave of absence and entering rehab earlier in May.
It`s unclear why the mayor was in Gravenhurst –his brother, city councillor Doug Ford, says he’s in rehab.
The Fordfamily also has a cottage nearby and there are rehab centres in the area.
The mayor was reportedly seen dropping off clothes at a drycleaner in Huntsville.
Mayor Ford’s lawyer, Dennis Morris reaffirmed in an interview Friday thatthe mayor is in rehab but wouldn’t say whether the centre was located near Gravenhurst. He also suggested the mayor was part of inpatient therapy but that doesn’t mean he’s restricted to facility grounds.
“I would venture to guess that he’s not restricted to four walls and I think anyone who’s in rehab voluntarily has the right to leave for personal reasons,” Morris said.
“We’re not talking a person in jail 24-7. You can be an inpatient but still have certain privileges for personal reasons and that’s basically what I think is happening.”
Morris suggested it would be detrimental to other people in the facility, along with the mayor, if his treatment location were publicized.
Brody Lisle spent five minutes with the mayor in the Bracebridge plaza. He said the mayor was “feeling good about himself” and has “lost a few pounds.”
The mayor told Lisle “he’s got six more weeks of rehab.”
Lisle said the mayor was at the plaza for roughly a half-hourFriday afternoon and was seen talking to a “girl in the blue Ford Escape” and “kept going in and out of the bank.”
The mayor took a leave of absence on May 1 after an audio recording of the mayor making racist and sexist comments was published by the Toronto Sun.
The same day, the Globe and Mail reported the mayor had again been filmed smoking what might be crack cocaine. Global News however has not been able to verify the Globe and Mail’s report.
– With files from Mark McAllister
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