TORONTO — The lawyer for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse.
Dennis Morris, Ford’s lawyer, said Wednesday night that Ford acknowledges he has a substance abuse problem and he wants to do something about it.
Ford told a Toronto Sun columnist he’s “ready to take a break” after the Sun reportedly obtained an audio recording of another nutty Ford rant in a Etobicoke, Ontario, watering hole.
The recording, The Sun reports, was made Monday night and captures Ford whining about his wife and expressing his desires about mayoral contender Karen Stintz:
“I’d like to f—–g jam her (Stintz), but she doesn’t want … I can’t talk like this … I’m so sorry,” Ford says on the recording. “I forgot there’s a woman in the house.”
According to one witness, Ford was seen buying shooters and trying to fight with patrons in the Royal York Road bar Monday.
“He was really wasted,” said the witness. “And he was acting like a real ass.”
Ford, who is seeking re-election in the October election, acknowledged last year after months of denials that he smoked crack in a “drunken stupor” after police said they obtained a video that appears to show him doing so. The video has never been released to the public.
News reports of the crack video’s existence first surfaced last May, igniting a media firestorm around Ford. He careened from one scandal to another, becoming a national embarrassment for many Canadians.
