TORONTO- Rob Ford is once again facing allegations that he used his position as mayor to help a client of his company, Deco Labels and Tags.
“I’ve answered this numerous times, I’ll answer it again. Deco has never benefited one iota, not one dime from any business we have done in the city for any companies,” said Ford.
The accusations come in the wake of a Globe and Mail article stating the mayor used his powers to lobby for the expropriation of privately owned land in order to build more parking spots for Apollo Health and Beauty Care, a soap manufacturer that is a customer of the Ford family’s printing company.
Ford emphatically denied any connection between his work in council and work with his company.
The Mayor said he does not discriminate who he tries to help as mayor based on any outside relationship.
“I’m going to be as clear as possible, (if) anybody calls me, I don ask ‘what company do you work with’ (or) ‘do we do business with you,’” he said, adding he tries to help everyone that calls his office.
He said his prerogative is to lure as many companies to allocate resources to Toronto and increase job opportunities in the city.
Ford’s mayoral opponents also responded to the fresh set of allegations.
John Tory said he thinks the Ford brothers may be confused about the parameters of what their public and private responsibilities are, and how to differentiate them.
“I’m just concerned that, in their minds, there seems to be some sort of blurring,” he said. “They seem to have all of these kinds of meetings with city officials… there is something about the spirit of the policies that say you shouldn’t have meetings that concern, even indirectly, your private interests.”
Olivia Chow also questioned Ford’s alleged actions.
“I believe that integrity is very important and there needs to be a very clear division between what you own and what you can gain, versus what you are doing as a public official,” she said.
Chow earlier asked both Ford and Tory if they would put their money into a blind trust to avoid future conflict of interest accusations. Neither candidate responded definitively.
“If you stand to gain, whether it is your brother or your friends, then you are using your public office for a procurement interest and that is not acceptable.”
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