Drug dealers, gangs, crack and Rob Ford’s personal life — issues that have dominated the Toronto news cycle for the past year, but were inconspicuously absent from debate number one — played centre stage at the second mayoral candidate face off Thursday night.

John Tory fired the first shot in his opening statement.

“It is no secret that I supported many elements of Mr. Ford’s fiscal plan when he was first elected. But we simply can’t go on the way things are going,” Tory began.

“It’s not acceptable to have a mayor who often shows up late and sometimes doesn’t show up at all. It’s not acceptable to see a spectacle of a mayor who refuses to answer questions,” he said. “And most troubling and unacceptable of all — a mayor who has eventually admitted to multiple and continuing relationships with convicted criminals and gang types. The various people he has pledged to keep off our streets.”

The student-heavy audience at Ryerson University cheered. Ford was the next to speak.

“I’d like to thank John for those kind words,” the mayor said dryly.

After Wednesday’s CityNews debate, many questioned why the major candidates seemed to dance around the drug question Olivia Chow came the closest, making references to “scandals,” but the only person to say “crack” was a reporter.

That was not the case on Thursday.

A student asked Ford directly about the recent video of him stumbling, slurring and swearing outside city hall on St. Patrick’s Day. When Ford said “You know what, I’m not perfect,” the crowd heckled him.

Even moderator Ralph Lean, who teaches a class at Ryerson and is a prominent Conservative fundraiser, went after Ford for his personal issues.

Lean asked each of the four candidates — Chow declined the invitation due to a “scheduling conflict and “concerns about the moderator’s neutrality,” said a campaign spokesperson — a “tough Ralph Lean question.”

He asked David Soknacki “why are you here?” since he’s polling so low and no one knows who he is. Lean asked Karen Stintz why she turned on Ford’s subway plan so soon after accepting the TTC chair position back in 2010.

And to Ford, Lean posed this question: “You appear to hang out with drug dealers. Drug dealers in my books are really bad guys . . . shouldn’t the mayor of Toronto have a higher standard? Shouldn’t the mayor of Toronto and the chief of police be locking up these bad guys?”

The mayor said “couldn’t agree with you more” and that he didn’t “condone drug dealers” or crack cocaine, “but you know what Ralph, I condone being the best mayor this city’s ever had.”

Lean’s “tough” question to Tory was about his losing record, despite his spectacular performance in the private sector. The complimenting dig earned a scoff from Councillor Doug Ford, who was standing along a side wall. He mimed an underhand softball pitch and shook his head.

In response, Tory came back with one of the best zingers of the night.

“The mayor’s taking joy in the fact that I lost. You’ll have the experience soon enough.”

Throughout the lashing, Ford stayed on script, touting his “proven track record,” which includes contracting out garbage and saving taxpayer’s “a billion dollars.”

Porter expansion, BMO field, Toronto Hydro, transit and the economy all got air time in the hour and a half long debate, but the most dramatic exchanges centred of Ford’s personal life.

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After the debate, Tory was asked about his change of tactics.

“Last night (at the CityNews debate), while I said he disrespected his office, a lot of people seemed to think that that wasn’t clear and so I made it clearer tonight.”





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