Councillor Ainslie files complaint with CBSC, wants the mayor off the air

TORONTO – Councillor Paul Ainslie wants Mayor Rob Ford off the air.

In a letter to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC), the councillor – who was recently on the receiving end of the mayor’s robocalls – decried the radio show, The City with Mayor Rob Ford, for allegedly breaking several clauses in the CBSC’s code of conduct.

Those alleged breaches, outlined in the councillor’s letter to the CBSC, include the mayor not presenting “true and balanced discourse”, using the show to “damage and attack the integrity of others with impunity” and actively campaigning for public office. Ainslie also alleges Ford uses the show “as a bully pulpit to unfairly have advantage over potential opponents in the upcoming 2014 election.”

To remedy these alleged breaches, Ainslie wants the mayor’s show taken off the air.

A Newstalk 1010 spokesperson said in an email statement that the radio station has “no comment” and “will respond accordingly through the normal process.”

LISTEN: The first hour from the October 13 episode of The City with Mayor Rob Ford on Newstalk 1010. 

Ainslie’s relationship with the mayor has deteriorated over the past year. Their public split culminated last week when the Scarborough councillor voted against the mayor’s ultimately successful attempt to extend the Bloor-Danforth subway line into Scarborough.

The mayor responded by ordering robocalls throughout Ainslie’s ward criticizing him for supporting light rail transit and allegedly “leading a charge” against subways; a claim which Ainslie has since denied.

“It was extremely, extremely unfortunate that your councillor Paul Ainslie was the only Scarborough councillor who did not listen to his constituents and voted against the Scarborough subway,” Ford said in his message.

The mayor’s office could not be reached for comment.