Mayor Rob Ford is considering an injunction to stop Monday’s unprecedented city council meeting, which aims to take away his budget and his powers.

“They can’t just treat the mayor as another member of council,” said Ford’s lawyer George Rust-D’Eye in a telephone interview Saturday. “Traditionally, and legally, Ontario municipal councils have been headed by a head of council, elected generally across the municipality.”

Rust-D’Eye, a leading expert on Ontario municipal law, had a 75-minute face-to-face meeting on Saturday with Ford. Up till then, all their discussions since Ford hired him last Wednesday had been via phone calls.

“It was the first time I met him,” Rust-D’Eye told the Star.

He acknowledged they may have crossed paths at a council meeting at some point, “but I’ve never dealt with him directly before and never actually been formally introduced.”

Rust-D’Eye said they had not yet decided on “what, if any, actions the mayor will take between now and Monday’s council meeting.”

But if he and Ford don’t end up getting an injunction and the meeting does go ahead, he will still table written submissions setting out the mayor’s position.

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Last week, following a deluge of revelations, including the mayor’s admission that he smoked crack cocaine and drove under the influence of alcohol, city council asked Ford to step aside and take a leave. Ford insists he’ll stay put.

On Friday, council voted 41-2 to take away Ford’s power to make decisions without council’s consent during emergencies and 39-3 to prevent him from firing councillors as committee chairs.

An even harsher motion slated for Monday’s council meeting aims to transfer to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly “all powers and duties which are not by statute assigned to the mayor” and to transfer the mayor’s office budget to the deputy mayor.

Rust-D’Eye said this motion “is couched in such generalized and ambiguous language” that makes it difficult to find meaning in it.

Moreover, he firmly believes council is not allowed to take this step.

“The council can’t just come along and say, ‘You don’t have those powers, and we’re going to essentially make you into the deputy mayor and the deputy mayor into the mayor,’ ” said Rust-D’Eye, noting the law clearly states what the mayor’s duties are.

City spokeswoman Jacquie DeSouza has said that defunding the mayor could be in contravention of provincial law.

“The city must have a mayor, which is required under the City of Toronto Act. The mayor has statutory duties, which he is obligated to fulfil,” DeSouza said in an email last week. The mayor’s statutory responsibilities include acting as chief executive officer, providing leadership to council and representing the city at official functions.

“Taking steps to remove funding from the mayor’s office would prevent the mayor from fulfilling his statutory duties and could result in potential court action against council,” said DeSouza.

While Rust-D’Eye won’t say what steps Ford will take, litigation is always a possibility though not necessarily the best way to go.

“Going to court, it’s expensive, it’s complicated and it’s time-consuming and it may not solve the dispute between the parties,” he said.

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“It would be better to try to convince the council that they shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “But if there is no other alternative, and if council is exceeding its jurisdiction, the only alternative is to go court to quash the bylaw (if it is enacted).”

He is not ruling out an attempt to ask a judge to block Monday’s meeting.

“It’s possible. You have to show urgency and you have to do the necessary paperwork to get the thing in front of the court and find a court that will deal with the matter,” he said. “I wouldn’t rule out anything at the present time.”

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who is among 28 councillors who forced Monday’s special meeting, said the public wants city council to take decisive action.

“Council is not going to be threatened by George Rust-D’Eye or any other lawyer,” he said. “Council needs to do something to restrain the mayor and to protect his staff.

“Council needs to limit his power. If we believe we can do that, we will. I suspect we may have to go in camera to get advice from the solicitor.”

On Saturday, speaking on a nationally syndicated talk radio show, Councillor Doug Ford said his brother has completely stopped drinking.

“Has he stopped drinking?” asked host Rob Breakenridge, filling in for Roy Green.

“Yes, 100 per cent, he has stopped,” said Ford.

“He’s not drinking at all?” Breakenridge asked again.

“Not at all,” Ford said.

Meanwhile, about 100 protesters gathered again Saturday at Nathan Phillips Square, calling for the mayor to resign.

Stephanie Stearn came up with a simple cardboard placard that said: “Even Santa Doesn’t Like You,” a reference to the request by Santa Claus parade organizers to the mayor that he not march in Sunday’s celebrations.