Mayor held to ‘higher standard’ than any other politician, Holyday says

ABOVE: City Councillors react to the latest controversy surrounding Mayor Rob Ford’s visit to Taste of the Danforth. Jackson Proskow reports.

TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford is being held to a higher standard than any other mayor, former deputy mayor and rookie MPP Doug Holyday said Monday, after videos surfaced online of the mayor at Taste of the Danforth.

“He’s being held to a higher standard than you or any other politician, has ever held a mayor,” Holyday said. “I think it’s got to stop.”

Videos uploaded to YouTube and other video-sharing websites over the weekend show the mayor being followed by a horde of people at the annual Danforth Avenue street festival.

Some witnesses claimed the mayor appeared intoxicated and said he “wanted to go party,” and the mayor is not denying he had “a couple beers” at the festival.

“I had a good time, I let my hair down,” the mayor said on his weekly Newstalk 1010 radio show “The City” on Sunday. “I drove myself down there, I was not drinking, I went out, had a few beers and I did not drive home. My people met me after that.”

Holyday, who will soon be leaving city hall for Queen’s Park, said the videos are “inconclusive” and don’t show the mayor doing anything illegal.

“I really couldn’t determine a lot of what was being said, or who was saying it,” Holyday said. “This mayor has gone through such scrutiny that everything he does is scrutinized that no other politician has ever had before that I know of and I just hope it doesn’t take a toll on him.”

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Councillor Sara Doucette however says whether or not the mayor had been drinking before, during, or after the festival, he needs to follow proper protocols.

“You arrive with a staff member, perhaps security support and then there isn’t a need to deny allegations for three days, there isn’t a need for 12 police officers to come and get you out of a jam,” Doucette said. “That’s how you attend an event. That’s leadership and we’re still not seeing it.”

Other city councillors, including Mary Fragedakis, whose ward includes part of Danforth Avenue, are defending the mayor.

“It’s a festival. People eat and drink at festivals. It’s what they do, it’s why they come to the Danforth,” she said.

WATCH: Mayor Rob Ford continues to fight a public-relations battle. Mark McAllister reports. 

“I think all members of councillors have to be careful of alcohol consumption,” Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said. “Councillors need to show better judgment. We certainly have a lot of things to do, and one of the more important things for all members of council, we have to try and show leadership and we have to lead by example.”

This is not the first time the mayor has been accused of over-indulgence. In March, the Toronto Star reported the mayor was asked to leave a military gala after “rambling” and speaking in an “incoherent manner.”  Also in March, former mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson accused the mayor of being under the influence of either drugs or alcohol at a party where he allegedly groped her.

Ford denied all allegations, accusing the Toronto Star reporters of being “pathological liars” and characterizing Thomson’s allegations as “absolutely, completely false.”

Councillor Doug Ford appears to be caught in contradictory remarks about his brother’s drinking habits after Newstalk 1010 released audio of statements he’d previously made.

In a interview with the Jerry Agar show on Newstalk 1010 after past controversies surrounding his brother, Councillor Doug Ford said he had “never seen Rob drink.” But on his show Sunday, Doug Ford said plainly that he had seen the mayor “hammered.”

The radio station released audio on the remarks on Monday. Listen below:

 With files from Jackson Proskow