Mayor Rob Ford should resign after the latest allegations about him doing drugs with gang members, Ontario cabinet minister Brad Duguid said Thursday in the strongest condemnation yet from Queen’s Park.

“It is time for the mayor to step aside,” said the minister of training, colleges and universities, who served on City of Toronto council with Ford before he won the mayoralty in a 2010 landslide.

Duguid is the first senior Ontario politician to take a hard position on Ford’s admissions of crack smoking, drunkenness and alleged cavorting with criminals.

“I think it has been very disruptive to us all.”

Duguid, who represents Scarborough Centre, joins federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney among political figures taking the strongest stands on Toronto’s scandal-prone chief magistrate.

“I think we all know, I think Torontonians know, this has been challenging for our city. It has been embarrassing; it has not been good for our reputation. It is time to move forward,” Duguid told reporters.

He added that deputy mayor Norm Kelly — who met with Premier Kathleen Wynne earlier this week in a clear signal the province is bypassing Ford after council curbed his powers — is “doing a good job.”

Kenney broke ranks with federal Conservatives last month when he said Ford “should step aside and stop dragging the city of Toronto through this terrible embarrassment . . . I think there is a dignity in public service and elected office and he is doing, regrettably, dishonour to that high office.”

Wynne could not immediately be reached for comment on the latest Ford developments, but is meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa. Previously, she said she has found Ford’s behaviour “truly disturbing.”

To date, Harper’s office said last month that drug use allegations about Ford are “troubling” and added “our government does not condone illegal drug use, especially by elected officials while in office.”

At Queen’s Park, Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur, whose department oversees policing in Ontario, said the latest allegations about Ford are “troubling.”

But Meilleur said it’s up to Toronto police Chief Bill Blair to call in Ontario Provincial Police if he’s concerned about a conflict of interest investigating the mayor.

“The transfer of a criminal investigation is the responsibility of the chief of police and I trust that Chief Blair, if he believed that it should be transferred to another police force, he would do so,” she told reporters.

“It’s his decision so he will make that decision.”

Asked if Ford should resign, Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey replied: “I think that’s a choice that Mayor Ford has to decide on.”

“These are very troubling allegations and we are watching what’s happening,” said Jeffrey.

“That’s a responsible thing for the province to do.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Attorney General John Gerretsen said it’s not up to the provincial government to decide if any charges should be laid against Ford.

“In our system the police investigate. We have full confidence in the City of Toronto police.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said it’s up to Toronto council to deal with Ford.