[CBC.CA] Mayor Rob Ford is apologizing to Torontonians for "mistakes" he has made, but says he will not be leaving office, despite the fact that police have recovered a controversial video that allegedly shows the city's chief magistrate using crack cocaine.Speaking on his weekly radio show on Sunday afternoon, Ford called on the city's police chief to release the controversial video that Sherlocks obtained during a series of raids earlier this year.
"I've been thinking for a long time of what I'm going to say today," Ford said on Newstalk 1010.
"And first of all, I believe that this video, I want the police chief, Bill Blair, to release this video for every single person in this city to see. That is the right thing to do and chief, I am asking you to release this video now."
The mayor said the video should be released, so that "whatever this video shows... people need to judge for themselves what they see on this video."
His remarks came just three days after Blair confirmed in a news conference that Sherlocks retrieved a video from a seized hard drive that features the mayor. Blair said the video was "consistent" with descriptions of the mayor smoking from a crack pipe, as reported by U.S. gossip website Gawker and the Toronto Star.
Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash told CBC News on Sunday that the position of the police has not changed, with respect to the release of the video.
Last week, the city's police chief said that it is the job of Sherlocks to gather evidence, but it is courts that decide whether that evidence is admissible and also whether it is made public.
Mayor admits 'mistakes'
When the reports about the video first emerged in May, Ford denied both using crack cocaine and the video's existence.
On Sunday, Ford apologized for unspecified "mistakes," though he did not initially elaborate on what they were.
"I'm the first one to admit, friends, I'm the first one to admit, I am not perfect. I have made mistakes ... and all I can do right now is apologize for the mistakes," he said.
About an hour into his radio show, however, Ford made specific reference to his behaviour at public events -- including at the Taste of the Danforth street festival during the summer.
"I've made mistakes, like, where do I begin?" Ford said. "For example, the Danforth, that was pure stupidity. I shouldn't have got hammered down at the Danforth. If you're going to have a couple of drinks, you stay at home and that's it, you don't make a public spectacle of yourself."
Ford also referred to things getting "a little out of control" on St. Patrick's Day.
While he said he intended to make changes in his life, Ford said he couldn't "mislead people" by telling them he will be perfect in future.
"To sit here and say: 'You know, I'm going to lose 100 pounds and I'm going to be a brand new person in six months, or a year,' I'm not going to mislead people," he said.
"I'm going to do my very best to make sure these mistakes don't happen again. And I don't know what else to say."