Deputy mayor urged Rob Ford to take a leave of absence

Watch: Global’s Jackson Proskow went one-on-one with Toronto Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly in the wake of Rob Ford’s admission Tuesday that he’s used crack cocaine.

TORONTO – Deputy mayor Norm Kelly spent upwards of an hour in Mayor Rob Ford’s office between his crack admission and long apology trying to convince him that the best option would be to take a leave of absence.

The mayor didn’t listen. Instead, he chose to “fight,” Kelly said.

“This is a guy who in football played on the offensive line: to have that ability to endure the violence and the struggle of the trench, guys that are involved in that in every play,” Kelly said. “He’s got that type of perspective that, you know, ‘I can fight, I have done it in the past, I’ve done it successfully, I can endure.’”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "This is a guy who in football played on the offensive line: to have that ability to endure the violence and the struggle of the trench, guys that are involved in that in every play," Kelly said. "He's got that type of perspective that, you know, 'I can fight, I have done it in the past, I've done it successfully, I can endure.'"

The deputy mayor also had a private meeting with the mayor on Saturday – two days after Police Chief Bill Blair admitted he had watched the infamous video and a day prior to the mayor’s “blanket apology” on his Newstalk 1010 radio show The City.

Kelly didn’t say whether he would support either of the two motions going before city council November 13. The first, put forward by John Filion, seeks to curtail the mayor’s powers to fire committee chairs. The second motion, put forward by Denzil Minnan-Wong, urges the mayor to step aside and cooperate with the police investigation.