Councillor Doug Ford, Mayor Rob Ford’s brother and closest adviser, has called for Toronto police Chief Bill Blair to take a leave of absence following Blair’s comments Thursday about a video that appears to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine.

“(Blair) believes he’s the judge, the jury and the executioner. He wanted to go out and put a political bullet right between the mayor’s eyes, and thought that would be the final bullet to knock the mayor off, and he showed his cards — he thought he had a royal flush and. . . he had a couple pairs of deuces,” Doug Ford said on AM640’s John Oakley show Tuesday morning.

He later held a news conference to repeat his comments, but went a step further by saying he will ask the OIPRD (Office of the Independent Police Review Director) to investigate the chief’s behaviour.

Doug Ford said he is also writing a letter to the police services board to ask for the removal of police board member Andrew Pringle because, Ford said, he went on a fishing vacation with the chief in a case of conflict of interest.

Related:

· Transcript of media scrum with police chief Bill Blair

Rob Ford : 'Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.'

Ford said Blair’s comments on the video at a Thursday news conference — during which Blair confirmed its existence, said he was “disappointed,” and called it a “traumatic issue” for the city — showed a bias against his brother.

On the radio program, Doug Ford said: “I think personally, this is just Doug Ford’s opinion, he needs to step down until the probe is done, and there’s obviously a bias right now moving forward in this city with a police chief against the mayor of this city,” Ford said.

“And it’s not up to the police chief to decide in the next election who's going to be the mayor. It's up to the people, and he’s lost track of that.”

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The conservative councillor’s unprecedented attack on the police chief comes as the mayor has faced widespread calls to resign or himself take a leave of absence.

At about the same time, the police chief took questions from reporters and said he is not going to step down. He added that he is not going to respond to personal attacks.

Rob Ford has refused to say anything about the video or explain why he flatly denied its existence in May. He has also refused to explain his secret meetings and clandestine exchanges with an accused drug dealer, Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, who has been charged with extortion for allegedly attempting to obtain the video.

“Our response is, we don’t respond to personal attacks,” police spokesman Mark Pugash said Tuesday in response to Doug Ford’s call for the chief to step aside.

Pugash added a version of a line Blair used several times last week when discussing the investigation: “Our job is to investigate without fear or favour.”

The chair of the Toronto Police Services Board –to which Blair reports – said he has told Doug Ford that he should follow standard procedure if he believes the chief did something wrong.

“I have advised Councillor Ford that in order for formal action to be taken, there is a process, and the process begins with the mayor and the councillor filing a formal complaint with the Ontario Independent Police Review Director,” Alok Mukherjee said on John Moore’s Newstalk 1010 show.

Asked by Moore if he has concerns about the city’s mayor being investigated by the city’s own police force, Mukherjee said he hasn’t until now because the police are “independent,” the board is not an agency of the city, and the mayor declined to exercise his right to sit on the board.

“Until now, I haven’t had a cause to worry about the course or the professional nature of the investigation,” Mukherjee said.

“But if the councillor does raise issues, we’ll have to look at that.”

Police board chair Alok Mukherjee said Doug Ford called him this morning after making accusations about Chief Bill Blair on the radio.

Mukherjee said Ford wanted to complain about the chief taking a private fishing trip with board member Andrew Pringle, calling it a conflict of interest.

“I'm not going to prejudge,” Mukherjee said. He told Ford he needed to put his complaint to the board in writing. Ford told Mukherjee he would have he letter to him later today.

Ford also complained to Mukherjee about the chief's earlier comments - specifically a press conference he held Thursday where Blair said they had recovered a video showing the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine. Mukherjee said Ford was also upset about the chief saying he was “disappointed” as a citizen of Toronto.

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“I responded by saying if he wishes...to trigger an investigation, the proper course would be to file a complaint with the OIPRD.”

The OIPRD, if they decide to pursue the complaint, can then conduct their own investigation or direct the investigation back to the board, Mukherjee said. He added third parties do have standing to make such complaints.

Doug Ford has regularly advocated for his brother by attacking media outlets and councillors who raise unflattering information about the mayor. On Monday, he accused a CP24 reporter of wanting to “kill” Rob Ford, and in his interview with Oakley, Doug Ford said the chief might “get an award from the Toronto Star at the end of the year for the best reporter.”

Blair “creates a bias towards the mayor,” Ford told Oakley. “Everyone could see that. He’s jeopardized the case against Mr. Lisi. I call it a witch hunt. Obviously he did it on Halloween night, and this witch hunt's going to continue,” he said.

Doug Ford also blamed Blair for the inclusion of embarrassing photographs in the document used to obtain a search warrant for Lisi, whom the mayor has described as a “friend” and a “good guy.” A judge, not Blair, ordered the document released last week after media outlets fought the case in court.

One of the photos, from an aerial surveillance, showed Ford urinating on a tree during a secret meeting with Lisi behind a school.

“Have I ever met a man on this planet that has never urinated outside, including the chief of police? Is it right? No, it’s not right, but I’m sure the police has never done that,” Doug Ford said.

He also criticized Blair and a member of the police board, Pringle, over a vacation he said they took together. He said Pringle has a “conflict of interest” and cannot effectively provide oversight of Blair, given their apparent friendship.

The Fords themselves pushed for Pringle to be appointed to the board, according to a secret list of administration picks obtained by the Star last year. Pringle’s close relationship with Blair was known even then, and the Star mentioned it in an article. Pringle is John Tory’s former chief of staff, a well-respected business executive and former chair of the Upper Canada College board. He donated the maximum $2,500 to the mayor’s election campaign.

Ford’s morning media blitz also included calls to City TV, Newstalk 1010, CP24 and CBC Radio’s Metro Morning in rapid succession.

Last week, Chris Eby, a senior consultant with the Toronto crisis communications firm Navigator, predicted that the mayor would have little success in a public battle with Blair.

“In a credibility contest between the chief and the mayor, the chief wins every time,” said Eby, a former Conservative party staffer.

The criticism comes just weeks before the mayor typically becomes involved in negotiations with the chief on the annual police budget, one of the city's largest expenditures at nearly $1 billion.

Doug Ford said he and his brother continue to support regular police officers, even as they take issue with the actions of their leader.

“We differentiate between the police chief and all the rest of the hard-working police officers that put their lives on the line every day for us,” he said.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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