Rob Ford doing well despite ‘slip up’: Doug Ford

LISTEN: Doug Ford interview on the John Oakley Show on AM640

TORONTO – Rob Ford’s brother Doug Ford insists he is not an enabler and believes his sibling is on the right track despite a video posted online showing the mayor rambling profanely inside a Toronto restaurant.

“They can take me as an enabler all they want. I know Rob is doing well since Nov. 1st. He had a slip up,” said Ford during an interview on AM640’s The John Oakley Show Thursday morning. “I think everyone’s gone through some sort of issue in their life.”

Rob Ford admitted on Tuesday he was in fact drinking on the night the video was recorded a day earlier.

The mayor told reporters on Wednesday the video was “unfortunate” and a “minor setback.”

READ MORE: Mayor Rob Ford was using Jamaican patois, swear words in video rant

“I truly believed that that was an old video and I stated that. Obviously I was wrong,” said Doug about his initial reaction when he was shown the video by members of the media on Tuesday.

Ford told Oakley his brother did go “off the wagon” but stated Rob is a “resilient” guy and “he’s hopped back on and he’s a fighter.”

Doug was also questioned on the radio about his brother’s friends and the people he hangs around with when he’s out of the office.

“When Rob goes in there to a restaurant or a public place, there’s a lot of people there,” he said.

“I understand they were trying to make a deal with the Toronto Star, to make some quick money. ‘There’s Rob Ford, let’s video tape him, let’s try to make some quick money.’”

Meanwhile, Doug also expressed his displeasure with the budget process and the proposed 2.23 per cent tax increase approved by the executive committee.

“We know we can do that 1.75 and all they want to do is fill their buddy’s pockets, go back to the backroom deals, and start the cronyism all over again,” he said.

“$9.6 billion a year budget, we can’t find one tenth of one per cent? We can’t find $9 million?”