Rob Ford should be severely censured by city council today for his conduct as mayor.

He has put his own interests ahead of the city’s by deciding to cling to his job.

His crack use and associations with thugs and gangsters mean he can no longer provide leadership or comment with any moral authority on the curse of violent urban street crime in Toronto.

His drug and alcohol abuse and erratic behaviour mean he is no longer a credible representative of the city when it comes to attracting investment.

His insistence on carrying on business as usual, while challenging the police to arrest him, his executive committee to back him or quit, and for council to “bring it on”, demonstrate he has learned nothing from the events of recent weeks.

Instead of showing genuine humility and contrition after asking the people of Toronto for forgiveness for lying to them, he has responded with arrogance, belligerence and intransigence.

The mind boggles at his insistence on marching in this year’s Santa Claus parade handing out candy canes to children, given the terrible role model he has proven himself to be.

That said, we agree with Ford on one thing. It’s time to move on.

Ford has made it clear he isn’t going anywhere and for council to ask the province to remove him from office would set a dangerous and anti-democratic precedent.

In less than a year, voters will decide who they want as their mayor, which is exactly how that issue should be decided.

Fortunately, Toronto does not have a strong mayor system and council will be able to work around the mayor on most issues.

Otherwise, imagine the chaos we’d be in right now if Rob Ford and his brother, Doug, the city’s unofficial co-mayor, had the power to fire Police Chief Bill Blair.

As it is, the mayor is only one vote on the 45-member council, which means there is no need for city business to grind to a halt.

We supported Ford for mayor. We don’t any more.

Going forward, we will continue to support and fight for what got him elected — the belief that the primary job of City Hall is to provide services to taxpayers as efficiently as possible.