Rob Ford continues to ignore questions after returning from rehab

Watch above: Mayor Rob Ford still picking and choosing which questions he will answer. Mark Carcasole reports. 

TORONTO – The new Mayor Rob Ford looks a whole lot like the old Mayor Rob Ford.

Days after returning from rehab, Ford continues to pick and choose which questions he will answer and which he will ignore.

The mayor’s campaign manager and brother, councillor Doug Ford, at first promised to give all interested media outlets a one-on-one interview with the mayor, who came under fire for barring certain reporters from a public statement during which he took no questions.

But that pledge was short-lived. The number of media outlets shrank to a select few before Ford cancelled further interviews late Wednesday, including scheduled interviews with Global News, CTV and City.

His office said he wants to “focus on the campaign so he won’t be doing any more interviews.” (The mayor spoke with CP24 and CBC Wednesday, and told each effectively the same thing: that his substance abuse ran the gamut of drugs and his homophobia and racial slurs were the result of his addiction)

Watch: Leslie Roberts talks about Rob Ford’s cancelled interviews.

Fact-check: Are Ford’s addiction statements true? 

But a producer for Newstalk 1010 tweeted Thursday the mayor will do an interview with Jerry Agar Friday.

The mayor also chose to ignore nearly all questions from reporters waiting outside of his office on several occasions Thursday.

The mayor, accompanied by a group of cricket-playing teenagers and asked whether he, as someone still battling a drug-and-alcohol addiction, was a good role model, did stop and say “I support the youth 100 per cent.”

That’s not good enough, mayoral candidate John Tory – who supported Ford’s mayoral campaign in 2010 – said Thursday.

“He’s left so many unanswered questions about why he won’t sit down with the police, about why he consorted with known criminals and so on and those non-answers really make it impossible for him to continue as mayor and he should resign,” Tory said.

“It’s a basic part of accountability. If you can’t answer questions, if you won’t answer questions, you can’t govern.”

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong wouldn’t comment on the mayor but said he personally tries “to be open with the media.”

“As required, I’ll give them interviews and I think it’s always important to be open to the media and answer their questions.”