Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem (2025)

[bunniefuu]

Wow, full house.

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to take this opportunity

to address a number of issues

that have circulated

in the media over the last few days.

I do not use crack cocaine,

nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

Holy sh*t.

Holy crap.

I cannot believe what the Mayor of Toronto

just said on live television.

Enough is enough, and I want respect.

From the moment Rob Ford was elected,

we all recognized that this

was not gonna be a boring four years.

The public loved him.

He was like a rock star.

His success made no sense

by any normal political standards.

This is backdooring a quick motion.

Staff doesn't support it. You're upset.

He turned City Hall into a circus.

He does not have a shred of credibility.

He was always delivering

this image of the everyman,

but what he told everybody was a lie.

All of a sudden, we realized

control of Canada's biggest city

was in the hands of a man

who had no personal control over his life.

Get off my property!

If you are an alcoholic, which, you know...

Mayor Ford, do you have a drug problem?

I said, "Rob, they say they have

a video of you smoking crack cocaine."

And he told me,

"Don't worry, buddy. There's no video."

Trust me, I've seen it.

He is smoking drugs in this video.

It's just lies after lies and lies.

Whoa, I can't believe I'm here right now.

Like, this is nuts.

When you attack my integrity, I see red.

There were just so many twists and turns

that you couldn't predict it.

Oh, and the last thing was, um,

Olivia Gondek says I wanted to eat her...

Holy f*ck!

Buckle up. Like, this is gonna get wild.

The raccoons were in it,

in the overflowing dumpsters

on Spadina overnight.

Their paws sticky at the feast,

courtesy of the garbage strike

now 16 days old.

Back in 2009,

I was an assignment editor

at a 24-hour news station in Toronto.

Toronto is the fourth-largest city

in North America.

And the garbage strike

was just gripping the city,

and it was disgusting.

The garbage is mounting up,

and people are throwing--

They're just throwing it everywhere,

and that's not right.

In order for me to go to work,

I'd have to grab some rocks on the road,

and I would throw it

to scatter the raccoons.

There was garbage piling up

when it was hot, and stinky, and smelly.

Now the trash is baking in temperatures

that hit more than 30 degrees today.

It was particularly damaging

for the mayor then,

a man named David Miller.

The mayor, quite frankly, isn't showing

very much leadership in this dispute.

The garbage strike

kind of politically wounded him,

and he decided to step back in 2010

and end his mayoralty.

There was no favorite

waiting in the wings, ready to go.

Meaning the race was wide open

for anyone to jump in

and sort of steal the narrative

and steal those headlines.

Can you tell them he's here?

As a friend of Rob Ford,

I phoned him right away.

I said, "Rob, you gotta run."

He says, "You think so, buddy?"

And I said,

"Yes, this is the time for you."

I mean, right from the very beginning

of his political life,

he considered himself a public servant.

He worked for the people.

Word was they wanted to be represented,

and they weren't represented.

There's no secret to it. They said,

"Will you be a full-time councillor?"

I said, "Absolutely."

People were upset,

and people were tired of City Hall.

And that's why I knew this area

was ripe for someone like Rob,

and so much so that I actually quit

my direct-marketing job,

and I went to work for him...

...as a social media guide.

It's time to stop the gravy train

that provides luxuries

and perks to politicians

and rich contracts to their friends.

I remember the first time I saw Rob,

right after the 2003 election,

and I thought,

"Where did this guy come from?"

He came on and he started smirking at me.

I said, "You should do the same

as Councillor Cho." He said, "Shut up."

He was so aggressive that a lot of people

didn't wanna sit near him.

And he was always changing seats

until he ended up two seats away from me.

- Quiet, no one's talking to you.

- Okay, Councillor.

Rob Ford was a controversial councillor,

known for saying things

that were not politically correct.

If you're not doing needles

and you're not g*y,

you won't get A*DS, probably.

One day, I started talking to him,

and he said,

"I'm gonna run for mayor, buddy."

And I was like, "Oh, Rob, don't do that.

You're gonna lose."

"You have no chance of winning.

Why put your family through that?"

And he'd say, "No, I'm gonna win, buddy.

Really, I'm gonna win."

Bottom line, run against me

if you think you can do a better job

for my constituents in Ward 2.

A friend called me and said,

"What do you know about Rob Ford?"

And whether I thought he could be mayor.

And I said, "No."

"I don't think he can be mayor."

I spent 14 years as an Army officer

in the Canadian Forces.

I came back to Canada exhausted

and completely disconnected

from my business network,

and so I was looking for a job.

My introduction to the Ford family

was Rob's older brother, Doug Ford.

He said, "Will you come on

as the chief of staff?"

And, uh, I said, "Yes..."

...because I, honestly, thought

it was gonna be six weeks' work,

because I didn't think

Rob Ford could go very far.

Doug and Rob were very close.

Doug, obviously, had an enormous influence

because he was the older brother

and the campaign manager.

There was always an understanding

that this was the Ford family enterprise.

Rob Ford may be new to politics,

but his family isn't.

My father represented south of the 401.

Rob's late father came from the streets

and, uh, made himself

into a multimillionaire.

I raised my family out here.

We started a business

on a ping-pong table in a basement.

He ran a printing company.

Um...

Oh!

Here's a-- Here's--

Here's a Rob Ford sticker from Deco,

which was the company at the time.

That man, uh, was somebody

that was very tough on his kids.

And so, uh, you know,

Rob was always trying to, you know,

please his father in a lot of ways.

Why don't you shut your mouth?

His, uh, father had also been a politician

and played football.

Rob loved football, but wasn't good at it.

He had no aptitude for business.

So the only thing left for him

to please his dad was to go into politics.

Doug Ford had sketched out

his visual of how we were gonna launch.

It'd be at the Toronto Congress Centre.

It'd have 5,000 people out.

I laughed. I didn't laugh out loud,

I laughed quietly.

'Cause I've never seen a political event

with more than a couple hundred people.

5,000 seemed to be ridiculous.

Ford for mayor!

But through social media, we amassed

a bunch of our, uh-- our supporters,

and what we were gonna do

is march to City Hall.

We're gonna leave in about five minutes.

We're gonna walk up Yonge Street.

At the very last minute,

if anybody knows Toronto,

we walked up Victoria Street,

where there is a TV studio.

So we walked by the TV studio.

Here's Rob Ford trying for his cheap plug

in the background right now

on breakfast television.

They stopped the breakfast morning show,

to mention, to talk about, "Look at this."

They're just going round the block

and back and forth. There we go.

It was brilliant,

free publicity on launch day,

and I was embarrassed

that it wasn't my idea.

It was like, "Brilliant, Tom.

Great idea. Lead us on."

I'm from Etobicoke,

where Rob Ford is from.

We're around the same age.

I'm a little older than him.

But, you know, on one-on-one,

I found him

quite personable and interesting.

So I thought,

"Well, of course, I should cover this."

And I'll admit, I drove out to Etobicoke

not knowing what to expect.

And I got to this large hall,

and I thought,

"Is he actually gonna be able

to fill this?"

I was the only daily news reporter there.

But I walked in,

and with so many people already packed in,

they kept having to run

and get more chairs.

The room was full.

I told him

there was about 2,000 people there,

would be my estimate.

Um, he gets up onto the stage and says,

"Thank you. Thank you so much for coming."

You know, "Wow, there's

5,000 people here tonight."

Because if you say it, it's true.

I looked around that room,

and there were Bay Street bankers,

and there were bus drivers.

I feel that Rob Ford

should be the next mayor for Toronto.

He's gonna look after my money

and your money.

The people that came out to support him

was a cross-section

of the city of Toronto.

I think he's a man of integrity.

Rob is the guy

for the people, by the people.

The way his campaign was put to me was,

Rob Ford gives his business card out

to almost everybody he meets,

and he says,

"If you have any problems, call me."

My colleague tells me a story

about her dad had a tree in his backyard,

and the tree was dying.

My friend's father called Rob Ford.

He came to the house,

he looked at the tree,

and he mediated sort of a solution.

So he got things done on the ground.

You have any problems with your unit?

Your shower, your stove, fridge?

He helped everybody.

It didn't matter if you were in his ward.

It didn't matter anywhere in the city,

and he was adored for that.

Rob Ford is the best, he's honest.

We need somebody

who can stand for what he believes in.

Come on, Toronto. Rob Ford for mayor.

The love, the power, and the support

in that room for him was mind-blowing.

And for the first time, I thought,

"I think this guy could win."

The media was quite surprised

at how popular Rob was becoming.

I'm voting for the guy.

- Ready?

- I'm ready.

So they started to dig into his past.

Ford faced scrutiny

over an impaired-driving conviction

in Florida in 1999.

Rob Ford revealed the charge

after a recent newspaper report

accused him of lying

about a possession-of-marijuana charge.

I made a mistake, I'm only human,

and I don't know what more to say,

I apologize.

That apology from 2006

after he lied

about swearing and yelling at a couple

during a hockey game, while drunk.

But despite all of those stories,

his popularity did just keep growing.

People are sick of wasteful spending,

that's for sure.

So he's resonating

with people in that way,

but he's a bit of a loose cannon.

I'd be driving the campaign bus,

and I'd get two responses.

People would be waving and cheering,

and others would be giving me the finger.

There was no middle ground.

A day of choice, a day of change.

The polls have just closed across the GTA,

where voters elect their new mayors...

On election day, the Ford family

gathers at the family house,

and some select media were invited.

The least confident person

on our team was Rob Ford.

He was having a lot of doubt.

He was having a lot of trepidation

that this didn't work, he'd screwed it up.

Pretty clear from the results

we have so far that he has won this race.

Rob Ford is the mayor-elect in Toronto.

- Elected!

- Elected!

Oh my God!

It was a big relief that he had won,

and we all went to the Congress Centre,

which is where we started the whole thing,

and thousands of people were there.

We were having to push and shove.

You literally could almost not breathe.

It was like riot training in the Army,

pushing through this mass of people.

But it did feel good,

and it felt like a vindication,

because a lot of people...

didn't think he could do it.

I didn't think he could do it.

Toronto now is open for business,

ladies and gentlemen.

One, two, three, smile.

Second last shot.

The first day on the job

was quite incredible.

We were outsiders all that time.

And now, we're insiders.

I came to Toronto City Council, uh,

the same time

as Rob Ford was elected mayor.

I had heard about him over the years

for his very right-wing populist positions

on issues.

The first year,

he was able to get his agenda passed.

He just said, "If you agree with me,

I'll work with you,

and if you don't, I will destroy you."

He got City Council

to repeal a vehicle-registration tax.

He got our local transit, uh, workers

declared an essential service

so that they couldn't strike.

He was ticking off,

you know, piece by piece,

his plan to make the city work

and end the waste.

And so it was a good first year.

But there's little signs that Rob is...

not performing at 100%.

He would disappear from city meetings

to go coach football.

He coached

a high school football team in Etobicoke.

Drive. Drive, drive.

His passion

is coaching high school football,

and it got him into trouble

when, as a councillor,

he used office stationery

to ask Toronto lobbyists

to give money to his football foundation.

That's a conflict of interest,

and so a court case began.

The unprecedented court case

had the city's chief magistrate

running away from the media,

as he tried to avoid questions.

He can't talk. The trial's still on.

The judge ruled

that it was a conflict of interest

and that the only punishment

the law allowed

was removal from office.

And Rob is upset.

This comes down to left-wing politics.

They want me out of here

and will do anything in their power.

I'm gonna fight tooth and nail, um,

to hold on to my job.

And Rob Ford did appeal.

The mayor was beaming

as he walked into his office

minutes after a panel of three judges

unanimously ruled in favor of his appeal.

In the end...

...Rob won.

But the stress of these court trials

was clearly eating away at him.

It's the deepest part of winter 2013,

and I am at the Garrison Ball in Toronto,

which is an annual military gala.

These are some people that I know

from my service in the military.

There's a fraternal bond there.

So I'm hoping to have

an enjoyable evening.

I don't think Rob is gonna be there,

because Rob had spent a weekend in Chicago

with his brother and some friends

to watch a hockey game.

So it was kind of a boys' weekend away.

I get a text from the body man

assigned for him that night

saying, "He's coming,"

and I think... like, just crushing.

Very shortly thereafter,

I get another message saying,

"They're here, I need you now."

And so I go to the front door,

and Rob is there,

and he is not in a good way.

He's dressed in his suit,

but his collars are up.

And his--

one of his shirt tails is untucked,

and he looks drenched from sweat.

And I try to stop him

from going in the room.

And he basically tells me

to step out of the way

or he'll take me down.

Somebody called me and said,

"Tom, there's an issue with the mayor."

So I pulled into the parking lot,

and there's Rob

with Mark Towhey in a headlock.

And I thought it was quite comical,

until I realized, you know, well,

"I don't think Mark was really too happy

about being in a headlock from Rob."

He eventually leaves, and I think,

"Wow, we'll read about this

in the morning."

I was working at the Toronto Star,

and I got a tip

that Rob Ford was so drunk.

And we had a city councillor on the record

saying he'd been asked to leave.

He told his chief of staff,

"I think it'd be better

for everybody involved, uh,

if the mayor left."

My experience covering Rob Ford

really changed me as a journalist.

This is where it started to turn dark.

A front-page story

in the Toronto Star alleges

Rob Ford has a drinking problem.

The Fords freaked out,

and they went, you know, totally ballistic

on me and the Toronto Star.

The Toronto Star

going after me again and again and again.

The Toronto Star is generally considered

a progressive paper,

and he was an arch-conservative

in a lot of ways.

They're relentless, that's fine.

I'll go head-to-head

with the Toronto Star anytime.

He officially cut us off.

It's just lies after lies and lies,

and I've called you pathological liars.

Rob Ford demonizing the media,

years before Donald Trump

did the same thing...

...was extremely effective.

He wanted to plant the seeds of mistrust

in the public's mind,

so that when the media

did report something bad about him,

he could say,

"See? They're out to get me."

And he would ramp it up

every time he knew

that there might be another scandal.

One day, I was working on a story.

I remember getting a call from this guy

who said he had a video

of Ford smoking crack.

It was April Fools' Day, which is never

the day you wanna get a call like that.

Um, but yeah, I mean, I just--

I handled it as professionally as I could

and said, "Okay, well..."

You know. "Tell me more."

"Can I see it?"

"Can we meet?"

So we met at a parking lot.

This guy pulled up and said, you know,

"Leave your bags and your phones,

etcetera, in your car, get in this car,"

and then drove us to a different location.

Another individual got in the car.

They seemed, um, very nervous.

I remember that

they wouldn't let us hold the phone.

They were holding the phone,

kind of showing it to us.

But when the screen turned on,

it was just so obvious it was Rob Ford...

...smoking out of a-- a glass pipe.

Holy sh*t.

And then they wanted

to sell it to us for $100,000.

But Canadian media does not pay for news.

You know, something like

the National Enquirer might do or TMZ,

but-- but that doesn't happen here.

Now what?

We all gathered

in the Toronto Star newsroom

to figure out what we needed

before we could publish the story

without having the tape ourselves.

I just remember sitting at my desk

and putting my head down on my desk,

because I was like, "Maybe this story

is never gonna come out."

And then about two weeks

after we saw the video...

...I was at a friend's book launch.

And, uh, all of a sudden,

someone came over to me, uh,

and said, "Robyn, did you see this?"

And the screen was Gawker.

The US website called Gawker

published a story

where they said, uh, the editor,

John Cook, had seen the same video.

Now, it was out there.

We could publish the story.

It was on the front page the next day.

It said, "Star reporters have seen a video

in which Rob Ford

appears to be smoking crack cocaine."

The paper acknowledges

it cannot verify the video

and says it did not pay for it

and doesn't have a copy.

Doolittle, a City Hall reporter,

believes it is the mayor.

Looks like Mayor Rob Ford,

sounds like Mayor Rob Ford.

Holy sh*t.

Our mayor just got caught

in a crack cocaine scandal on video.

It was so shocking.

It was unprecedented for a mayor

to be involved in anything like that.

You know,

I knew things were kind of crazy,

but I certainly didn't know

they were that crazy.

When I saw the story, I thought,

"That's a problem."

And I called him and I said,

"Rob, they say they have a video

of you smoking crack cocaine."

And he told me,

"Don't worry, buddy. There's no video."

And that was not

the answer I wanted to hear.

Because, to me, that suggested

that there could've been a video.

I do not use crack cocaine,

nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

As for a video,

I cannot comment on a video

that I have never seen or does not exist.

It is most unfortunate

that I have been judged by the media

without any evidence.

The mayor says it didn't happen,

it didn't.

Our messaging

was always the same as Rob's.

We all know pictures can be photoshopped.

It could've been Ford, but I doubt it.

I just don't think it's his style.

There was a poll done in the city,

and something like 50%

of people in Toronto

thought that we had fabricated

the crack story.

It's a very clear agenda,

trying to, uh, make as much problem

for Rob Ford as possible.

I just really did not understand

how much people mistrust media

and how the Fords really successfully

had framed the media

as a political opponent.

Let's be clear. I'm gonna answer.

You ask the questions.

If I get interrupted,

questions are over, simple.

I started getting death threats.

Yeah, it was--

it was just extremely, uh, tense.

The proof has yet to surface,

clouding the world's view of Toronto,

according to some on city council.

This is the, um, chief magistrate

of, uh, our great city,

and, uh, it's a problem.

I said that this was going to finish him,

unless he went to rehab.

And so, at that point,

I started to change every conversation

that I had with him.

Every time he wanted to talk

about policy or an initiative

or something

that he wanted done in the city,

all I'd say is, "You need to go to rehab."

And I knew then...

...that by giving him only that choice,

he would either eventually give in and go,

or he would fire me.

And he chose option B, to fire me.

Have you urged the mayor to seek help?

My advice to the mayor is confidential.

And so I walked out the front door

with security, basically, marching me out.

Mark Towhey being fired

was one of those pivotal moments.

It was not a good time for me.

It was frustrating, and it was angering.

It just felt like betrayal.

And then he just left,

and it sort of left the reporters

in this moment of shock

that something big was coming.

I just didn't know what at that point.

So it's Halloween,

and I remember getting

a text from a police source

who said, "Are-- Are you near a TV?"

"You'll wanna watch

this press conference in half an hour."

I've been advised

that we are now in possession

of a recovered digital video file.

I will not be releasing it today.

Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blair, came out

and said, "We've got the crack video."

He wouldn't share it, but Toronto Police

were in possession of that video.

That file contains video images,

which appear to be, uh, those images

which were previously reported

in-- in the press.

The crack video was captured

in a massive g*n smuggling raid

after a horrible sh**ting in Toronto.

And, ultimately, it was the individuals

targeted in this investigation...

...that the mayor was seeming to be buying

and smoking serious drugs with.

That's what started this second wave

of chaos at Toronto City Hall.

Hey, get that flash down.

Lower that flash.

Well, good afternoon. Um...

I think everybody's seen

the... uh, the allegations.

So I... Well, I think it's quite...

I... I think it's...

No, I'm not. Uh, no. No.

You know what? No. No.

Uh... I have no reason to resign.

I'm gonna go back

and gonna return my phone calls.

I'm gonna be out

doing what the people elected me to do.

And that's save taxpayers' money

and run a great government

that we've been running

for the last three years.

So that's all I can say.

Again, that's all I can say.

Is this acceptable behavior for a mayor?

Again, I can't...

I've said everything I said.

Have you lied to the people of Toronto?

You're saying

the Chief of Police is lying, Mayor Ford?

- Why won't you resign?

- Mayor Ford!

I was working

in corporate security at City Hall.

On the day

that the police chief, Bill Blair,

came out and said that the police

were in the possession of the crack video,

I was escorting Mayor Ford

to his-- his car.

And, uh, he said, "Listen, Jerry,

I need some type of close protection

because the media, they are relentless."

"You're basically gonna be

my right-hand man." You know.

I was just like, "Holy crap."

It's not every day

the mayor of the biggest city in Canada

asks you to come work for him.

You know? And so I was like, "Okay."

- Come on, let's go, then. Come on.

- Let's go.

It was like I'd been dropped into a storm.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- You hit him.

- I didn't.

You did. I just saw you.

He didn't. He pushed him out of the way.

It was relentless.

The media were hounding Rob.

Guys, you're under the cameras.

Get off my driveway, please.

It was a feeding frenzy. It was sharks.

Please, can you get off my driveway?

Can you get off my property, please?

- Go! Get off my property!

- Leaving!

- Take it off my property!

- I'm leaving!

Oh, here we go.

It just became an absolute circus,

and it got even worse.

Then all of a sudden,

international media's there.

I'm trying to do my work

at the front desk,

and, uh, I had, uh, relatives

from Scotland texting me saying,

"Tom, we see you in Scotland, in Glasgow,

and you're at the mayor's office."

"What's going on over there?"

Now, the rumors have been swirling

around him since May,

but now Canadian police

say they've seen a video

appearing to show the Mayor of Toronto

smoking a crack pipe.

He became the punchline

to jokes on late-night, uh, talk shows.

Is this dude on crack?

He needs professional help,

he needs amateur help.

He can go see a witch doctor.

But to be fair, there's not a lot

to do in Toronto. Come on, guys.

Excuse me. Excuse me.

Meanwhile, Rob continued to deny it

and continued to just want...

...to do business as usual.

Whatever this video shows, folks,

Toronto residents deserve to see it,

and, Chief, I'm asking you

to release this video now.

Rob, you've gotta keep--

keep moving forward.

As I say, keep your nose clean

and-- and, uh, move forward.

He, um, didn't believe

that there was any kind of footage.

I didn't believe

there was any kind of footage.

Mayor!

Do you think Chief Blair

should step aside?

You guys have asked me

a question back in May.

You can repeat that question.

The one we asked in May?

- Do you smoke crack cocaine?

- Exactly.

Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.

- When, sir?

- But no-- Do I?

Am I an addict? No.

Have I tried it?

Um, probably in one of my drunken stupors

probably approximately about a year ago.

Yes, I've made-- I've made mistakes.

All I can do now is apologize and move on.

- I don't know what else Can I just--

- Yeah, go ahead.

There's been times

when I've been in a drunken stupor.

That's why I wanna see the tape.

I want everyone in the city

to see this tape.

I'd like to see this tape.

I don't even recall there being

a tape or a video, and I know that,

so I wanna see

the state that I was in, but, um...

That's exactly it. I wanna get--

Are you on drugs right now?

Okay...

Nobody had seen the video.

But when Rob confessed,

it was a huge blow to me and the team.

For six months, I talked

to literally 100, 150 people a day.

And a lot of them

were wondering about this crack thing.

I always had swore

that that was false, it was not true.

And, uh, when he finally admitted it, uh,

I was actually crushed.

I was the longest-serving staffer, uh,

the entire time.

I was working 24 hours a day,

seven days a week...

...uh, so much so that my wife left me.

You know, I had misled Toronto residents

for all that time.

And then proven wrong, uh,

by the man himself.

So it took a real toll on me,

and, um, I couldn't do it anymore.

With today's announcement...

I know I embarrassed

everyone in this city,

and I will be forever sorry.

Right after Rob admitted to smoking crack,

everything seemed to completely implode.

And it was only a matter of time

until more videos came out.

I'll rip his f*cking throat out.

When he stands up,

I'll make sure that m*therf*cker's dead.

There's one where he's in a house.

He seems to be pantomiming a fight.

I'm a sick m*therf*cker, dude,

but no one's gonna f*ck around me.

It's extremely embarrassing,

and I-- I don't know what to say.

Um, again and again and again,

I apologize.

At that time, the situation

was so unbelievable,

day after day after day.

Have you purchased ill*gal drugs

in the last two years?

Yes, I have.

Scandal flew off Rob Ford

like-- like sweat off a runner.

It was classic Mayor Ford.

One moment, contrite.

I really, uh, effed up.

The next, defiant.

I'm moving on.

You guys can do what you want.

Oh man.

There were some days

where we're just-- I'm just like,

"Whoa, I can't believe I'm here right now.

Like, this is nuts."

Mayor, any comments

on the latest allegations?

As all of this was happening,

then he just makes this offhand comment

after he was accused of demeaning

a staffer named Olivia Gondek.

Um, he wanted--

Oh, okay, so we're gonna use

some language, everybody.

Just-- I can't believe I'm at the office,

and I'm gonna say this.

Um, but, you know, he said...

Oh, and the last thing

was, um, Olivia Gondek.

It says that I wanted to eat her p*ssy.

Olivia Gondek.

I've never said that. I'm happily married.

I've got more than enough to eat at home.

Thank you very much.

Holy f*ck!

I know we're up live right now,

but I don't know if we can...

I... Mayor Ford, speaking,

as Mayor Ford does, very plainly,

as he said in council yesterday,

he effed up,

and now using language

that I don't think we can broadcast on TV,

but we just broadcast that on TV.

Another unbelievable day...

When things are constantly so shocking,

you know how you sort of get numb to it?

This broke any spell of numbness.

No money, man.

Ja! Bumbaclot, man!

And then, there was this video

of him speaking in a Jamaican patois,

talking about Bill Blair,

the police chief of Toronto,

who had started investigating.

Chief Blair. Ja, man.

He chase me around for five months, man.

I've almost forgotten that one.

I mean, it-- it just-- Like, it all blurs.

Bumbaclot, man!

Rassclart, Bumbaclot!

Leave me alone, man.

I got to take some ownership here.

Okay, so Rob really loves spicy food.

We get talking about Jamaican food,

and he'd short me, he'd be like,

"Aw, buddy, you don't know, man."

And that's where we would banter

back and forth in patois.

So he was just ranting and raving.

Like, "You're wasting taxpayer dollars

to-- to try to find something on me,

and you're-- this is ridiculous."

It was a bona fide investigation

by the Toronto police.

He got caught smoking

crack cocaine with gunrunners,

opening himself up to extortion,

as the Mayor of Toronto

who had an influence

over the police budget.

So it was very clear to me and others

that he could not remain mayor.

I came up with the idea

of removing his powers.

We have to, um, try to disarm the mayor

as much as possible.

I offered to not make the motion

if he would just agree...

...to voluntarily go into rehab,

and, uh, he said no.

I voted for Rob Ford back in 2010,

and, damn, was I ever wrong.

We walked into the council chamber.

Shame, shame, shame!

And, um, there's a bunch of people, um,

giving the mayor the finger,

flipping him off.

You know, people started yelling,

"Shame, shame, shame,"

and all-- all hell broke loose.

You're the scumbag.

- How do you know--

- You're the scumbag, you little punk.

This was a session

full of jaw-dropping moments.

When it couldn't get worse, it did.

The mayor ran

into Councillor Pam McConnell,

almost knocking her to the ground.

I'm still shaking, I'm sorry.

After the debate, voting began.

It's still happening right now.

We could not remove Rob Ford as mayor.

Only the electorate can do that.

But what we were able to do

was remove the powers of mayor,

provide them to the deputy mayor...

...and then work as a council

in a collaborative, collegial way

to run the city.

This, folks, reminds me

of when S*ddam attacked Kuwait.

You guys have just attacked Kuwait.

Most people in Rob Ford's position,

after going through the scandal

and the mess he put all of us through,

would've stepped aside in shame.

What Rob Ford did

is he leaned in on the scandal.

He tells Torontonians to re-elect him.

Rob Ford is holding his campaign launch

here at the Congress Centre in Etobicoke.

Volunteers are getting everything ready

for the fundraiser.

How many do you think you'll sell tonight?

Oh, a lot.

I think it's gonna be phenomenal.

Of course, he was gonna run.

Why retreat when you can

just keep pushing ahead?

I've been the best mayor

that this city's ever had.

My record speaks for itself.

It was pretty incredible

to see Rob Ford get up, say,

"I've done a great job as mayor."

Four more years!

What was equally amazing

is how many people cheered him on.

- You got my vote, Rob.

- I really appreciate the support, sir.

It's very kind of you.

People love a comeback story.

This week he's gonna be resurrected.

Jesus and Rob Ford.

There was a feeling

that if he can keep his demons at bay,

that, you know, he has at least

a very good shot of winning this thing.

In early 2014,

I'd just left the Toronto Star

and joined The Globe and Mail.

And then something like

three days into the job,

I get a call from someone who said

he had another video

of Rob Ford smoking crack.

I just remember kind of standing there

going, "Oh damn."

Canadian media

will pay for freelance photos.

So I remember just saying,

"We should buy five screenshots

from this video for $2,000 a piece."

And The Globe just got it done.

They were like, "Yes, let's do this."

These are the damning

pictures that surfaced tonight.

Snapshots of a new video

allegedly showing Rob Ford

with what could be

a crack pipe in his hand.

It just sort of added that layer

of, you know, everything was

already so unbelievable.

And then this.

It really built

this, uh, frustration and anger

among voters outside of Ford Nation

that enough is enough.

And he's just like, "Yeah, I've gotta get

treatment and-- and-- and get help."

And that's where he went away to rehab.

Now, I think I speak

for everyone when I say

I'm just happy Mayor Ford is finally

getting the help he so desperately needs.

What? What's that? Really?

I'm told Rob Ford's escaped from rehab.

He's on the loose in the Los Angeles area.

Let's take a look.

People really didn't get it.

Like, it was hard for him. Um...

He'd call me up

in the middle of the night at rehab.

He's like,

"Buddy, this place is like jail, bro."

I'm like, "Man, they got a gym up there?"

He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Work out."

So when he came back, uh,

the guy was about 30 pounds lighter.

There was one guy I couldn't beat.

It was that guy in the mirror.

One morning I got up. I said, "That's it."

They said, "You can't. There's a mayor."

I said, "I'm going.

I have to take care of myself."

He was, you know, firing on all cylinders.

He's training, working out.

I'm like, "Yeah, we're back."

He also invited wrestlers,

celebrities, to show up at his office.

And he created a carnival atmosphere.

Do you remember one of those...

...accidental tirades of his?

He did say he would kick my butt.

- You're kidding.

- Oh, okay.

It was the day

after Mike Tyson had come to City Hall.

And we go for breakfast in the morning,

and Rob had just, like, no appetite.

And he's just like, "I don't know,

I'm just not feeling well."

"There's this pain in my side.

It's, like, burning."

And Doug was like,

"Jerry, just take him to the hospital."

Uh, so I drop him off.

He goes to see the-- a doctor,

and I-- I just wait in the parking lot.

A few hours pass,

and, uh, Rob calls me up.

He's like, "Buddy, I don't know,

it's not looking good."

"Um, you got to call Doug

and tell him to get here ASAP."

Doug shows up,

and Doug and I go into the hospital.

And we see Rob laying there.

And he tells us

that, uh, they had to do a scan,

and they found a tumor.

And I just broke down crying.

Sorry.

The diagnosis is a malignant liposarcoma.

We think it's a fairly aggressive tumor,

a very rare tumor

and a very difficult tumor.

I feel so sad for Rob, for his illness.

And I-- I just pray he's gonna be okay.

In spite of his illness,

Rob Ford has decided to remain

in the race for a seat on city council

while his brother, Doug Ford,

runs for the top job in his place.

My brother Rob told me

that he needed me to take the torch

while he focuses on getting better.

Rob dropped out of the mayor's race,

and his brother jumped

into the mayor's race.

Doug Ford came close to winning,

having only jumped into the race

with 30 days left to go,

so kudos to him.

Rob was re-elected

as the councillor once again for Ward 2.

- Rob! Rob!

- We love you, Rob! Thank you, Jesus!

Rob would never, ever admit defeat,

even with cancer.

He thought he was going to beat it,

like he'd-- he'd beaten everything.

Um, he was always, you know,

the comeback kid.

It's World Cancer Day.

It seems very relevant to talk to you

and find out how you're doing right now

in this whole process.

Well, thanks for asking, Cynthia.

It's very kind when people come up

and ask, uh, how I'm doing.

Um...

I'm doing the best I can

in this situation. Um...

I got, uh, in about six months ago.

I can just keep my head up high every day,

take one day at a time,

and just keep fighting

and, um, keep praying.

Um...

It's a struggle.

I'm outside Mount Sinai Hospital.

This is where Rob Ford

spent his last few days,

with his family by his side,

as he battled

a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

It was like a-- you know,

a Shakespearean tragedy

where he didn't get that final act

where he was able

to, you know, overcome all those demons

and come back, you know,

in a positive light.

His ending was cut short,

and that, in itself, was a tragedy.

And I really miss him.

He was a really good friend.

Ford Nation!

There's not a day that goes by

that I don't think

about some conversation I had with him

that-- it taught me something.

Oh man, these emotions.

Ooh!

I'm proud and I'm honored

that I'm able

to share this side of the story

and be able to give people an inside look

as to why I stood by him

through thick and thin.

And I don't care what anybody says.

They can go fly a kite.

At his funeral, you know,

Doug told this story how...

Rob loved his, uh, sandwiches.

I was working late one night,

and Rob came in with, uh, a sub.

And he said, "I went in to MR. SUB,

and Gus was there."

"And Gus worked 16 hours a day

trying to make a living."

"And an order came in

on the phone... for MR. SUB,

and the total order was about $32."

"And Gus didn't have

anyone to deliver it."

I think you know

where this story is going here.

Well, Rob's like,

"Well, just give it to me.

I'll go deliver it for you."

See, imagine you ordered some subs,

and then... a knock,

there's the Mayor of Toronto

delivering your subs.

He said, "You wouldn't believe it."

"I met, you know, four new voters."

"So I have them as supporters now."

And he said, "The best thing of it all,

they gave me $35, and I got a $3 tip."

You know...

But, again, you know,

that-- that's classic Rob.

What do you think Rob Ford's legacy is?

Hmm.

What is Rob Ford's legacy?

I've been thinking about that.

'Cause I knew

you were gonna ask me that question.

And I think Rob Ford's legacy,

it all comes down to who you ask.

So, Mark, who was Rob Ford?

He was dishonest.

- Selfless.

- Smart.

Outspoken.

Unpredictable.

Exploitative.

You know, all of us have a Rob,

you know, somewhere in our life.

And I think in the long run,

history will think of him

as a man who had an illness...

One more year!

...who, despite that,

accomplished some things

that had never been accomplished before.

And... the bad stuff,

yep, it speaks for itself.