Article content continued

As the scandal surrounding the embattled mayor of Canada’s largest city continues to unfold, those who work alongside him are determined to steer Toronto away from the spiralling crisis.

Rob Ford has drawn much attention over the past six months after media outlets reported the existence of a video that appears to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine and making racist and homophobic slurs.

Tensions boiled over when Toronto’s police chief announced last week that authorities found a video which appears to be the one “previously reported in the press” — a clip Ford had suggested does not exist.

Read more…

[/np_storybar]

“Friends, I’m the first one to admit I am not perfect. I have made mistakes. I have made mistakes and all I can do right now is apologize for the mistakes,” Mayor Ford said, reading a statement on the Newstalk 1010 show he hosts with his brother.

He rejected calls to resign, pledged to “weather the storm” and promised to run again next year.

“I want to move forward, but I also know to move forward I have to make changes in my life, which I can assure you I will do.”

Mayor Ford later clarified that the “mistakes” he was referring to include being “inebriated” at the Taste of the Danforth festival this summer, and an “out of control” party in his office the night of St. Patrick’s Day 2012, when he was seen wandering around city hall at 2 a.m. with a half empty bottle of brandy and imagining that a vehicle he did not drive that night had been stolen. He apologized for other “little things” such as texting and talking on the phone while driving. He announced plans to hire a driver.