Continuing his tough talk in response to the Scarborough shooting that killed two and injured 23, Mayor Rob Ford called Wednesday for gang members to leave the city.

Ford also said he will meet with Premier Dalton McGuinty on Monday to ask for more money for policing, not for social programs.

Speaking to CP24’s Stephen LeDrew, Ford said his visit to the crime scene affected him deeply.

“It just tore my heart apart. And I just thought, this is not the city that we live in, this is — I was mad. More than upset, I was mad. I said, ‘Enough’s enough.’ I’m lookin’ around, and I said, ‘I’m not gonna sit here, I’m gonna be proactive.’ I talked to the premier, got a hold of the premier, called the prime minister’s office, I said, ‘I want meetings. I want something to be done.’ I want these people out of the city. And I’m not going to stop. Not put ’em in jail, then come back and you can live in the city. No. I want ’em out of the city. Go somewhere else. I don’t want ’em living in the city anymore,” Ford said.

He returned to the point later in the interview. “We have to send a message. Three years for possession of a handgun? That’s nonsense. You should do some serious hard time, and not come back here. Once you come out, out of jail, get out of the city. Go somewhere else,” he said.

It was not clear if Ford meant that he wants legislative changes to prevent convicted gang members from returning. His spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Ford said he will ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper to lengthen sentences for gun offences. He said he will ask McGuinty for more funding for the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) police teams that target high-crime neighbourhoods.

McGuinty’s government announced last year that it was giving another $10 million to TAVIS over two years, bringing the total to about $35 million since 2006. McGuinty suggested Tuesday that expiring funding for programs in Toronto’s 13 “priority neighbourhoods” could now be extended, but Ford indicated Wednesday that he is not interested in the offer.

“I don’t really believe that handing out free money is a solution,” Ford said.

McGuinty’s office said the premier called a meeting with Ford, Attorney-General John Gerretsen, Children and Youth Services Minister Eric Hoskins and Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur.

Ford is a staunch law-and-order conservative, but his effort to cut the city’s budget has resulted in a two-year police hiring freeze. Councillor Adam Vaughan, a Ford critic and former police board member, argued that the force would not be able to quickly make use of additional TAVIS funding.

Ford’s comments followed a strongly worded Tuesday afternoon statement in which he called the shooters “idiot thugs” and said the city must “declare war” on gangs. That statement came hours after a crime scene media scrum in which he drew criticism from some quarters for calmly calling the shooting “isolated” and urging residents to “move on and carry on with their life.”

The novel request to gang members prompted new criticism.

“He’s just out of his depth,” Vaughan said. “We need a serious conversation on what to do about this issue, and these kinds of — I don’t even know what to call them — flights of fantasy from the mayor are quite frankly not based in any reality or city I understand.”

Ford repeated his mantra that “the best social program is a job.” He also noted that council last week approved $16 million in grants to community groups — while declining to say that he was the only member of council to vote against the grants.

In June, he cast a solo vote against accepting federal money to extend a gang prevention program. That program, which does not cost the city money, is designed to help young people considered at risk of gang involvement transition into legitimate employment.

Ford’s outspoken ally Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said Wednesday that he will ask council in the fall to impose a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone 14 and younger unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.

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A curfew, Mammoliti said, would keep young teens away from “gangbangers out recruiting at 2 a.m.” It would also penalize “irresponsible parents,” he said, who would face sanctions ranging from a fine to a call from Children’s Aid.

Council rejected a similar proposal from Mammoliti after the so-called “summer of the gun” in 2005, and a curfew was part of his mayoral platform before he dropped out of the race in 2010. It is already illegal in Ontario for people under 16 to loiter unaccompanied in a public place between midnight and 6 a.m., though the law is not strictly enforced.

Ford said he is “very, very upset” about the shooting but believes the city remains the safest in the world.

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