Mayor Rob Ford fled a news conference Tuesday when he was asked whether he has used illegal drugs since November.

Speaking earlier Tuesday to NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer, Ford dodged when asked if he had used crack cocaine or any other drugs since their previous conversation on Nov. 18.

“I don’t use illegal drugs,” he said.

Ford offered a similar present-tense denial — “I do not use crack cocaine” — when his crack scandal erupted in May. When he finally admitted to having used crack, he falsely claimed that journalists had not asked him the “correct questions” about whether he had ever used.

Ford had called a news conference to discuss his decision to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Big City Mayor’s Caucus gathering in Ottawa this week.

When journalists asked him there to clarify his remarks to Lauer, he asked for “any other questions,” then walked away when the drug question was repeated. On his way out of the room, he asked if the local media are “jealous because I do an interview with an American station.”

He added, while walking down the stairs: “I said no, and you don’t understand the N or the O.”

Ford told Lauer that he has continued drinking alcohol, but “not to the point of some of the episodes before.” He had repeatedly promised to give up drinking entirely.

AUDIO: Rob Ford flees press conference (9:20)

Ford’s decision to attend FCM in itself was unusual; he has never gone to an FCM meeting as mayor and has been critical of councillors doing so. He said in 2012: “I don’t go to FCM. Since when do I go to FCM?”

Asked about his change of heart, he responded, “I realize we need this funding to help the poor people out who live in Toronto Community Housing. The gridlock problems that we face in this city. The solution is: build subways.” He added: “We need money.”

“My trip to Ottawa is an important opportunity to advocate for Toronto’s interests around these extremely, extremely important issues,” he said in his speech.

Ford, touting infrastructure investment as “wise,” said he would be asking the federal government for Toronto’s “fair share” of a new $14 billion fund. He is seeking new subway money — for lines on Sheppard and Finch Aves. and a downtown relief line — and for money to address the TCHC’s repair backlog.

None of those subway line ideas has been approved by council. Ford’s TCHC request comes less than a month after he and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, were the only members of council to vote against asking the federal and provincial governments to cover one-third of the $2.6 billion in capital funding required by the TCHC over the next decade.

Ford said Tuesday that he did not want to “waste their time” with a formal request in January when he knew he would be speaking to them directly in February.

“I’m not just going to give them reports. I don’t want to frustrate our federal colleagues through paperwork. That’s not how I do business,” he said Tuesday.

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“They know what our needs are. Why are you going to rub it in their face in paper and put it through the media and try to embarrass them? I don’t work that way. I didn’t work that way through the subway. So you know what, I, as you know, have my contacts up in Ottawa. They treated us very well.”

Councillor Paula Fletcher said Ford would not be taken seriously at the meeting, both because of his open disdain for FCM and because council stripped most of his mayoral powers in the wake of the crack cocaine video scandal.