TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is maintaining his silence over reports of a video allegedly showing someone who looks like the Mayor smoking what could be crack cocaine, and there is little that can be done to force him to answer the allegations.
Friday morning, Toronto’s executive committee told the media that a letter is being drafted in an attempt to get Ford to address the matter.
READ MORE: City executive committee to urge Ford to address controversy
Ford called the allegations against him “ridiculous” last week, he has refused to speak further on the issue. His brother, Doug Ford, said the Mayor told him the allegations were “untrue”.
Global News has not seen the video and cannot verify its authenticity.
Under the City of Toronto Act there is very little that can be done to remove a mayor from office says John Mascarin, a partner with Aird & Berlis LLP, a firm that specializes exclusively in municipal law.
“There is no way to effectively remove the mayor during his term in office,” said Mascarin. “(A mayor) cannot be removed just because he creating distractions at city hall.”
Friday morning, councillors said that the letter being addressed to the mayor is to remind the public that business will continue as usual at city hall.
Mascarin said that under the Toronto Act there are only two ways to remove a mayor.
“If (a mayor) is incarcerated at anytime during the election process or when (a mayor is) sitting in office you become disqualified and are removed from office,” said Mascarin. “You can be removed from office if (a mayor) misses more than three months of council meetings.”
In the case of Rob Ford, Mascarin said that if he is facing a substance abuse problem that council could allow him to miss meetings while he seeks treatment.
Last week reports surfaced from Gawker and The Toronto Star of a video of someone who matched the appearance of Ford allegedly smoking what could be crack cocaine
Thursday the mayor fired his Chief of Staff Mark Towhey, a long-time ally, reportedly after Towhey advised the mayor to seek addiction counseling.
READ MORE: Rob Ford’s chief of staff fired for trying to get mayor to rehab: reports
Gawker has started a crowd-funding campaign Rob Ford Crackstarter in an attempt to raise the $200,000 needed to buy the video from an unnamed source.
But with the tally inching ever-closer to the goal, Gawker editor John Cook said Thursday that he can no longer contact the sellers of the alleged recording.
Legal experts say that if the video does surface it would be difficult for the police to investigate.
“How do you know what’s in the pipe? There’s no way of verifying,” said Mascarin.
Mascarin said that police generally don’t lay charges on just a video tape and prosecutors would look at this as very flimsy grounds to go to trial.
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