Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Says He Will Not Resign

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he is “going to ride this storm out.”

Of course, he is referring to the scandal that has overtaken his term as mayor of Canada’s largest city. As Mark reported, for months now, there have been reports that there is a video out there that allegedly shows Ford smoking crack cocaine.

The news cycle had died down a little bit, until this Thursday when Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said authorities now had that video and confirmed that the images of Ford on the video are “consistent with that which had previously been described in various media reports.”

Ford’s lawyer said the video does not show Ford smoking crack.

Today on a weekly radio show hosted by Ford and his brother, Ford called on the police chief to make the video public. The mayor also apologized for unspecified mistakes.

“I’m the first one to admit, friends, I’m the first one to admit, I am not perfect. I have made mistakes … and all I can do right now is apologize for the mistakes,” he said.

NewsTalk 1010, where the program airs, posted video of the first part of the show:

The CBC reports that about an hour into the show, Ford came back to apologize for his past behavior at public events.

“I’ve made mistakes, like, where do I begin?” Ford said, according to the CBC. “For example, the Danforth, that was pure stupidity. I shouldn’t have got hammered down at the Danforth. If you’re going to have a couple of drinks, you stay at home and that’s it, you don’t make a public spectacle of yourself.”

In case you were wondering, it seems like this scandal has not hurt Ford in the eyes of voters. The CBC reported, yesterday, that a new poll showed “Ford’s approval rating rose by 5 percentage points to 44 percent.”