Toronto Mayor Rob Ford leaves his City Hall office after a day of city council meetings in Toronto November 15, 2013. Toronto city council voted to strip scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford of some of his powers on Friday but Ford, who admits he smoked crack cocaine while in office, promised to challenge the moves in court.
Ford, who has admitted to smoking crack cocaine, buying illegal drugs and driving after consuming alcohol, has issued a string of emotional apologies but has refused to resign.
He plans to stand for re-election next year, and told Fox News on Sunday that he hopes to run for prime minister one day.
Council cannot remove Ford from office or strip him of roles laid out in provincial law, such as representing the city at events. But it has been looking for ways to limit his power.
"What we're doing is saying to our deputy mayor, please represent our city until 2014, because we trust you more than we trust the mayor," Councillor Karen Stintz told reporters. Stintz, once a key Ford ally, now plans to run against him in the October 2014 election.
At an afternoon meeting on Monday, council is set to vote on a motion that, among other things, would cut Ford's office budget to that of a normal city councillor, and make the deputy mayor the chair of the cabinet-like executive committee.
"They're trying to pull a coup d'etat and overthrow an elected official," the mayor's brother, Councillor Doug Ford, who is the mayor's most loyal ally, told reporters on Monday.
Ford's lawyer, George Rust-D'Eye, was more circumspect. If the mayor cannot carry out the roles mandated by provincial law because of council's decisions, a court could intervene, he said.
"If it has those impacts then it could well be held by a court to ... be beyond the powers of the city council," he told Reuters. He does not plan to seek an injunction to stop Monday's vote, and will discuss next steps with the mayor after the city council meeting.
Stintz said council has sought advice from city lawyers, and is acting within its authority.
On Friday, council suspended Ford's ability to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and the heads of council committees. It also granted the deputy mayor, rather than the mayor, special powers to act during emergencies such as natural disasters. Both motions passed by wide margins.
PRIME TIME
A new television show featuring the mayor and his brother is set to debut on Monday evening on Canada's right-wing Sun News Network. The network is touting new confessions from "the most wanted man in news".
CNN is set to air a taped interview with the mayor at the same time, 8.00 p.m. Monday evening (0100 GMT). According to an article on CNN's website, the network also spoke with Doug Ford, who addressed allegations he trafficked drugs in the 1980s.
Doug Ford denied a report published in May by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that he sold hashish for several years in the 1980s. But he said he did offer small quantities of marijuana to friends.
"Thirty-one years ago. I smoked marijuana. I didn't deal marijuana. If you want to go calling, you know, going to your buddy and saying, 'Here is a joint for 10 bucks.' If that's what you want to call (dealing), so be it," he said, according to CNN.
Doug Ford could not immediately be reached for comment.
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