Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, have been on a media blitz in recent days in an attempt to counter a message sent by city council when it stripped him of his powers that he is unfit to govern. Their claims have sent fact-checkers into overdrive. Herein are some of their recent claims, and what the records show.
Drugs:
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 touched a drop of alcohol in three weeks. I don鈥檛 do drugs, maybe a year ago whatever happened, happened,鈥� Mayor Ford told CP24鈥檚 Stephen LeDrew on Tuesday.
鈥�I don鈥檛 smoke crack, I haven鈥檛 smoked crack in over a year,鈥� Ford told CNN in a segment that aired Monday.
FALSE: According to a police document released Tuesday, police say the video in which the mayor is purportedly smoking crack cocaine was recorded in February 2013, nine months ago.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a crack house. Go there,鈥� Ford told LeDrew about 15 Windsor Rd., where he is pictured in a photo with two men who now face drug charges and a third who was shot dead earlier this year.
FALSE: In court documents, police refer to the home as a 鈥淭rap House,鈥� a euphemism for 鈥渃rack house.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know Mr. Lisi two years ago,鈥� Ford tells LeDrew of his friend Alexander 鈥淪andro鈥� Lisi, who is charged with extortion over his alleged attempts to obtain the video in which Ford is purportedly seen smoking crack cocaine.
FALSE: In a reference letter Ford wrote for Lisi dated June 4, 2013, the mayor says he knows Lisi 鈥渢hrough his volunteer work on my 2010 election campaign,鈥� and later says 鈥淚 have known Mr. Lisi for several years.鈥�
Job performance:
鈥淭he people elected me with the largest mandate in Canada鈥檚 history,鈥� Ford told the CBC鈥檚 Peter Mansbridge on Monday.
FALSE: While Ford did receive 383,501 votes in the 2010 election, Mel Lastman received 483,277 votes in the 2000 election -- nearly 100,000 more.
鈥淚鈥檝e never missed one day of council, and I鈥檝e been straight as an arrow every day for 13 years down there,鈥� Ford told LeDrew.
FALSE: Public records show that, out of 440 council or committee sessions of the current term that began in 2010, Ford was absent 84 times.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 such a crisis in the city, the city鈥檚 falling apart, it鈥檚 not. The unemployment rate鈥檚 from 11 per cent down to 7 per cent,鈥� Ford told LeDrew.
TRUE & FALSE: A City of Toronto report dated Nov. 12, 2013 reported that indeed, the city鈥檚 unemployment rate fell by 2.9 percentage points between April 2012 and August 2013. However, those gains were lost in the past two months, and the city鈥檚 unemployment rate for October was 9.8 per cent, higher than the national rate of 6.9 per cent.
