General

‘Any other questions?’ Rob Ford holds press conference amid new crack scandal reports

The attack on Rob Ford is over-the-top

Mark Blinch/Reuters

“Any other questions?”

It was what Toronto Mayor Rob Ford asked reporters at City Hall after he finished a prepared speech touting the city’s $248-million budget surplus, along with his record on low taxes and infrastructure improvements.

There were other questions. A lot of them, in fact, with most focusing on separate reports from the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and Gawker.com that identified the Toronto home where Ford appeared to have been photographed with his arm around Anthony Smith, a man who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in March.

All three reports say the home in the west Toronto suburban neighbourhood of Etobicoke is the location of a photo that was provided by the man who tried to sell the Star and Gawker the video of Ford allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

Neighbours around the home, at 15 Windsor Rd., told Star reporters that they have had concerns about drug activity at the home for some time. The home is near Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, where Ford was a volunteer football coach, and near 320 Dixon road, in the same building where the Star reporters say they viewed the video.

All three outlets also report that there was an armed home invasion at the Windsor Road bungalow on May 21, five days after the reports of the alleged video of the mayor smoking crack cocaine emerged. Ford has denied that the video exists and said he doesn’t use crack.

There were plenty of questions at the afternoon press conference–but evidently not ones Ford wanted to discuss.

“I guess there are no more questions,” he told reporters as he left the podium and walked back into his office. “Thank you very much.”

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