New footage of Rob Ford recorded outside city hall on Saturday night appears to show the Toronto mayor stumbling and swearing loudly as he attempted to hail a cab.
The footage, reportedly shot at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night, shows the mayor wearing green St. Patrick’s Day beads and standing with a group of people.
A Mississauga woman told CTV Toronto her teenage son recorded the video with his iPod. She had been driving along Bay St. when she noticed Ford on the sidewalk outside city hall.
The mayor, she said, agreed to take a picture with her son. She was taken by surprise though, she said, when Ford swore loudly in front of her son, who is 13 years old.
The woman told CTV News that Ford’s state made her believe he’d just come from a party.
Ford, who attended Toronto’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday, told CTV Toronto that he was at city hall Saturday night, adding he was there to return phone calls.
“Give me a break guys,” Ford said after CTV Toronto asked if he had been partying.
Ford did not directly respond when asked by CTV Toronto whether he had been drinking during the evening.
The new footage of Ford comes almost two years to the day after the mayor was allegedly intoxicated during an after-hours party at city hall with members of his staff and two females following a night on the town.
A report from city hall security on duty the night of March 18, 2012 indicated that Ford -- then two years into his mayoralty -- was intoxicated, had problems walking and was swearing at his staff during the 2 a.m. visit.
A record of the report regarding the mayor’s erratic behaviour was made public in November 2013, as Ford faced intense scrutiny over allegations of drug use and an investigation by Toronto police.
Days after the report went public, Ford admitted on his now-cancelled Newstalk 1010 radio show that things “got a little out of control” on St. Patrick’s Day 2012.
In the days following that admission, the scandal surrounding the mayor reached a fever pitch, when Ford publicly admitted to using crack cocaine while in office.
The mayor has since vowed to quit drinking but admitted to consuming alcohol on at least one occasion since – when he was filmed in January at an Etobicoke fast-food restaurant swaying and speaking in a Patois accent.
Ford’s brother, Coun. Doug Ford, said Sunday at the parade that he didn’t know what the mayor was doing last night.
“I’m not too sure. All I know is we’re down here and we’re having fun,” he said.
CTV News has not confirmed the authenticity of the video.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson
