A threat by Mayor Rob Ford to out proponents of new transit taxes weekly on his radio show has generated another complaint to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Ford “can talk about potholes and pavement,” says Viresh Fernando, a Toronto lawyer who made the complaint. “But he’s not allowed to use the public airways to go after political opponents. He’s definitely crossed the line.”

Whether that’s the case remains to be seen. It will be up to a three-member panel of the standards council to decide.

“It strikes me that if he’s talking about someone’s voting record, that is public knowledge,” said John MacNab, executive director of the council. “That doesn’t sound like a real attack to me, but I can’t say what a panel would rule.”

On his radio show last Sunday, the mayor promised to read the names of city councillors, led by TTC chair Karen Stintz, who wanted to have a full debate on how to fund transit expansion. Ford said he would read the list “on every single show until the next election.”

His brother, Councillor Doug Ford, said he didn’t trust Stintz and called her “deceitful” and “nothing but a liar.” When contacted by the Star afterwards, Stintz shrugged off the comments: “Hmm. I guess I’m off his Christmas card list.”

It is comments like those that are more likely to get the duo in trouble.

“People are certainly allowed to criticize other public figures, in this case another councillor,” said MacNab. “Where it devolves into a personal attack, the line for the CBSC has generally been how severe a personal attack it is.”

Last year, the council ruled comments made on the show by a freelance journalist about former mayoral candidate George Smitherman were “abusive and unduly discriminatory.”

The broadcaster, CFRB-AM NewsTalk 1010, has three weeks to respond to the complaint. If Fernando isn’t satisfied with the response, he can ask for the complaint to be heard by a three-member panel.

Newstalk program director Mike Bendixen said the station doesn’t respond to issues before the standards council. But he said the station generates a higher number of complaints because of the “nature of talk radio.”

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