Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford have renewed and sharply escalated their unprecedented public attack on the integrity of Toronto’s chief of police, explicitly accusing Bill Blair of violating police law and meddling in the mayoral election in support of John Tory.

Doug Ford, alleging a pro-Tory conspiracy, claimed Thursday that Blair has gone “rogue” and violated the Police Services Act by commenting on the mayor while he is under investigation.

Rob Ford said Blair “owes an apology to the taxpayers” for spending money probing his activities and uncovering “nothing.” Ford said he would not apologize for calling Blair an obscene name in a profane Jamaican-accented rant filmed at an Etobicoke restaurant in January.

“If he’s going to arrest me, arrest me,” Ford said at city hall. “I have done nothing wrong. And he’s wasted millions of dollars. I want him to come clean and say how much money did it cost the taxpayers for surveillance on me, and the planes that he had to rent. That is absolutely game-playing. It’s politics. And I am not apologizing.”

The Fords campaigned in 2010 as strong supporters of the police. They embark on the 2014 campaign while locked in a never-before-seen rhetorical firefight with the chief.

Their Thursday comments, swiftly denounced by Tory as a “disgrace,” came a day after Blair made unusual remarks of his own. He told the Star that Rob Ford’s friend Sandro Lisi had warned police upon his Oct. 31 extortion arrest that Doug Ford would soon launch an offensive against their “boss.”

Blair also complained that his family was subjected to Rob Ford’s “disgusting” insult, “c—sucker.”

Rob Ford responded: “He’s embarrassed? How about him embarrassing my family, my kids, my community, my friends, following me around for five months, spending millions of dollars, using taxpayers’ money, trying to politicize things.”

The ongoing police investigation, Project Brazen 2, was launched immediately following May 2013 media reports of a video that appears to show Ford smoking crack cocaine. Investigators observed and photographed clandestine package exchanges between Lisi and Ford.

Ford claimed the investigation revealed nothing other than “an empty vodka bottle” and “me urinating in a parking lot” — but he refused to say what was in the packages. He previously admitted to crack use, after months of denials, and to buying drugs while serving as mayor.

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Blair did not respond to the Fords’ remarks. Spokesman Mark Pugash said, “We don’t comment on ongoing criminal investigations.” Blair, Pugash said, had not been looking for an apology for Ford’s obscene insult.

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Blair’s comments on Wednesday came in response to a formal complaint filed by Doug Ford over Blair’s comment at the Oct. 31 news conference where he confirmed the existence of the apparent crack video. Blair, asked whether he was shocked by it, said he was “disappointed.” On Wednesday, he explained that he meant only that he felt revealing its existence would cause concern and potentially damage the city’s reputation.

Doug Ford said Thursday that he’d ask the police board to take Blair off the investigation and would file a new complaint about Blair’s Wednesday comments, which he claimed represent multiple breaches of the Police Act. He said Blair falsely suggested that he, Ford, had discussed with Lisi plans to target Blair.

“He’s implied yesterday that somehow some way I had a conversation with Mr. Lisi. I have said numerous times I’ve never met Mr. Lisi. I’ve never talked to Mr. Lisi,” Doug Ford said in a city hall media scrum soon after his brother’s.

Both Fords later took to talk radio. On Arlene Bynon’s show on SiriusXM, Doug Ford said of Blair: “In my opinion, he’s out of control right now.” On AM640, Rob Ford said: “He’s supporting his friend John Tory. That’s fine!”

The Fords’ professed evidence for Blair’s support for Tory is the chief’s connection to police board member Andy Pringle, a Tory friend and advisor who donated the maximum $2,500 to Rob Ford’s 2010 campaign.

Pringle took Blair on a board-approved fishing trip at a private club in New Brunswick in 2012. Board chair Alok Mukherjee told the Star in 2013 that Pringle believed the trip would help him sell Blair on budget cuts Ford’s administration wanted.

Mukherjee said this week the complaint the Office of the Independent Police Review Director is investigating is not about the fishing trip, which the board had discussed and had no concerns about.

“Folks, put the dots together,” Doug Ford said Thursday. “John Tory. Andy Pringle was his chief of staff. They’re good buddies. Andy Pringle, the chief and John Tory are all good buddies. And I find it very, very suspicious in my opinion that all the dots are finally connecting as I said they would.” He did not elaborate.

“This is a disgrace,” Tory said in a statement. “Torontonians deserve better. While mayors across Canada are focused on building transit and attracting jobs, Doug and Rob Ford are focused on fighting the police chief. I am proud to support the chief. Today's behaviour underscores why we need new leadership at city hall."

Doug Ford did not say what provision of the police law he believes Blair has violated. He played down the mayor’s comment about Blair at Steak Queen.

“I’m sure he’s called the mayor a few nasty names,” Doug Ford told Bynon. “The only difference is the mayor doesn’t have millions of dollars at his disposal to be wiretapping and taping the police chief.”

Bynon noted the remark was caught at a restaurant on video, not a wiretap.

Ford replied: “Yeah, well, we don’t know who taped that.”

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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