Councillor Doug Ford refused to answer questions on Tuesday about how his brother travelled to and from a restaurant in an impaired state last week, insisting “the people don’t care” about the mayor’s personal issues.

“You guys feed on this stuff, and that’s fine,” the councillor told reporters at city hall, when asked whether Mayor Rob Ford was drinking and driving the night he was captured on video rambling in Jamaican patois at an Etobicoke restaurant.

“You guys can work on the personal issues until Oct. 27 … but you’re out of touch. You’re out of touch with what the people care about. People don’t care about that,” Doug Ford said. “What people care about … is making sure their taxes are low, that they have good employment here.”

It was the first time the councillor has spoken to reporters since his brother admitted last week he had, in fact, been drinking when he was caught on video at Steak Queen.

Rob Ford denied getting behind the wheel but would not say how he got to and from the restaurant.

Before his brother’s admission, Doug Ford had insisted the footage could not have been current because the mayor had “not taken a drink” since the beginning of November.

When a reporter proceeded to show him the video, the councillor observed, “Rob’s a lot heavier in that picture than what he is now … obviously that’s him, but it didn’t happen last night.”

“I truly believed, without talking to him, without seeing it, that he had stopped drinking,” the councillor told reporters on Tuesday. “Obviously, you know the story. You can drag this out.”

The councillor also blasted Carol Wilding, CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, for the apparent confusion over whether Rob Ford had been invited to a dinner on Monday evening, prompting the mayor to walk out of the event.

“Isn’t that amazing? A president and CEO doesn’t even know what she is signing, who she is inviting,” he said, clutching a copy of the signed invitation in his hand. “That just says a lot about Carol Wilding’s leadership. I can assure you the people of the board don’t share her values.”

The board of trade was one of the first organizations to call for the mayor to step aside in November, after Chief Bill Blair revealed that police had obtained the video that appeared to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine.

Spokesman Scott Brownrigg said on Monday that the board of trade sent the invitation unintentionally, and that the mayor did not RSVP.

“We are aware of Councillor Ford's comments,” Brownrigg told the Star in an email on Tuesday. “We addressed the dinner issue last night and have nothing further to add.”

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