A Toronto councillor who's among those leading the charge to remove embattled Mayor Rob Ford from office says council is not yet prepared to have the provincial government intervene.
Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has left a "very, very small crack open" that would allow the province to step in and remove Ford from Toronto's mayoral office.
"The conditions that she wants satisfied are very, very significant," Minnan-Wong to CTV's Question Period. "She wants council to approve measures to be taken. She wants the city to prove that it can't function properly. And then also she wants all-party support. It's almost like she's presented it as it's doomed to fail."
Minnan-Wong said while city council is taking unprecedented steps to limit Ford鈥檚 powers, most councillors are unwilling to call in the province to intervene.
鈥淯nfortunately my council members aren鈥檛 there yet, they don鈥檛 believe the province should intervene as of yet,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, council鈥檚 moves to limit embattled Ford鈥檚 powers will continue Monday, as councillors plan to introduce a new motion that would scale back Ford鈥檚 office budget to that of a city councillor鈥檚 budget and remove all powers that were statutorily conferred to him.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing everything that we can to limit his powers because most of us think he should resign,鈥� Minnan-Wong said.
If the motion passes, Ford鈥檚 powers and duties would be reassigned to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, and Ford would be replaced by Kelly as chair of the executive committee. In addition, Ford鈥檚 office budget would be slashed.
But Minnan-Wong said Ford will continue to have a fairly substantial amount of powers, including leading council meetings, promoting the city locally, nationally and internationally and being the leader and designated representative at all city functions.
鈥淚 believe he still has a very significant role and some of those powers that he has that are statutory-based are probably the very powers that council would have some objection to,鈥� he said.
Ford鈥檚 lawyer George Rust-D鈥檈ye confirmed to CP24 on Sunday that the mayor is considering an injunction to put Monday鈥檚 vote on hold.
Arriving at Sun News Network TV studio to film a new show on Sunday, Ford told reporters he was feeling 鈥済reat鈥� ahead of Monday鈥檚 motion.
鈥淚 feel great, just talked to my lawyers,鈥� Ford said.
Ford鈥檚 brother, Coun. Doug Ford said he 鈥渃an鈥檛 wait鈥� for the next municipal election.
鈥淭he people are going to decide, not 43 councillors, are going to determine who鈥檚 mayor,鈥� Doug Ford said. 鈥淪o they鈥檝e trampled on his rights, people have seen that, trampled on their rights too -- we鈥檒l go from there.鈥�
On Friday, council unanimously passed two motions to strip Ford of some of his responsibilities -- including his ability to appoint and remove committee chairs, as well as his power to play any leadership role in cases of emergency.
John Mascarin, a municipal lawyer who has been following the case, told 麻豆影视 Channel on Sunday that only Wynne has the power to remove Ford from office.
鈥淐ouncil itself has no authority to remove one of its members, an elected member, from council,鈥� Mascarin said. 鈥淭hat can only be done from provincial legislation.鈥�
