TORONTO 鈥� Admitting to having smoked crack cocaine and drinking himself into a stupor is no reason for Mayor Rob Ford to take time out to seek help for his problems, his brother said Tuesday.
Despite intense pressure on Ford to step down, Coun. Doug Ford insisted the mayor would not do so, saying he is getting "the support he needs."
"He doesn't want to be stepping aside for two weeks," Ford said at city hall. "He has to keep busy."
On Wednesday, a city councillor is expected to put forward a non-binding motion demanding Ford take a leave of absence.
Motion sponsor Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong has said he planned to ask council to petition the province to oust Ford if he doesn't step aside.
Doug Ford, his brother's ardent defender, said he expected a "very political" week.
"Of course, it will be a flogging," the councillor said.
"He's apologized profusely and I don't know how many more times he can apologize."
Despite late-night talk-show mocking and laughter at Ford's expense, the mayor's internationally renowned woes have proven damaging to Toronto's image, a new study suggests.
The Cormex Research study released Tuesday finds 52 per cent of the city's international, negative exposure in the media is related to the mayor.
"The city's tone of coverage is indeed worsening," said Andrew Laing, president of Cormex.
"It has a longer-term impact on how people view the city in terms of a place to move to, invest in, study at, that sort of thing."
Only the Toronto International Film Festival has received slightly more coverage in print and online, the survey found.
"The appealing nature of this (Ford) story is that it currently has a number of elements that keep it fuelled," Laing said.
One of those elements was expected to come to the fore Tuesday as lawyers planned to ask a judge to allow them to view a notorious cellphone video appearing to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine.
The lawyers for Mohammad Khattak, a man seen posing with the mayor in a widely published photograph, argue their client's reputation has been harmed by being associated with the video.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Ian Nordheimer said he would decide whether to view the video himself or allow the lawyers to do so.
Nordheimer could also rule at any time on releasing remaining parts of a document that shed light on Ford's relationship with his friend Alexander (Sandro) Lisi, an alleged drug dealer who also faces extortion charges in relation to the video.
Sections of the Lisi court document released earlier this month revealed that police believe Ford's photo with the three men was taken at a west-end home that an informant described as a "crack house."
None of the allegations have been proven in court and Lisi's drug case was put over Tuesday.
