Politicians looking for answers about Mayor Rob Ford’s video scandal have three legal options to attempt to get at facts, according to a Toronto lawyer.

City council could ask for a judicial investigation under the City of Toronto Act, which would be overseen by a Superior Court judge, said Michael Paris, an associate with Bennett Jones LLP.

“They can investigate into any supposed breach of trust or other misconduct of a member of city council. . . . it also empowers them to inquire into any matter connected with the good government of the city,” Paris said.

Although allegations involving the mayor could arguably be deemed “personal,” Paris said the law doesn’t appear to stop such issues from being subject to investigation, if council passed a resolution for such a probe.

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Star reporters and the U.S. website Gawker have described seeing a video showing Ford apparently smoking a crack pipe and making homophobic and racially charged remarks. Ford has denied the video exists and says he doesn’t smoke crack cocaine.

The mayor hasn’t answered subsequent repeated questions about the allegations, saying he’s already addressed the matter.

There are two other options, Paris said, although whether they could actually be applied in this situation is unclear.

One is for council, a member of council, or a member of the public to ask the integrity commissioner to look into a possible contravention of the city’s code of conduct.

However, Paris said, the code doesn’t delve into personal matters and criminal issues would be referred to police. The code deals more with conduct related to lobbyists, gifts, city property and influence.

“Not knowing all of the facts at this time, it’s difficult to say whether or not the integrity commissioner has jurisdiction or not,” Paris said. “There’s nothing really that falls squarely within the code of conduct, that I see, at this time that’s been alleged against the mayor.”

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Paris said there’s also an option for Premier Kathleen Wynne, within the Public Inquiries Act, to set up an inquiry for matters she considers in the public interest.

Wynne said last week that she was “worried about the situation” and monitoring it, but there was no clear path of action for the province to intervene.

Although the premier has the power to call an inquiry, Paris said, historically inquiries have been used for more systemic issues, rather than to probe the conduct of one municipal official.