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 Fordâs powers, most councillors are unwilling to call in the province to intervene.
âUnfortunately my council members arenât there yet, they donât believe the province should intervene as of yet,â he said.
Meanwhile, councilâs moves to limit embattled Fordâs powers will continue Monday, as councillors plan to introduce a new motion that would scale back Fordâs office budget to that of a city councillorâs budget and remove all powers that were statutorily conferred to him.
âWeâre doing everything that we can to limit his powers because most of us think he should resign,â Minnan-Wong said.
If the motion passes, Fordâs 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, Fordâs 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.
âI 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,â he said.
Fordâs lawyer George Rust-Dâeye confirmed to CP24 on Sunday that the mayor is considering an injunction to put Mondayâs vote on hold.
Arriving at Sun News Network TV studio to film a new show on Sunday, Ford told reporters he was feeling âgreatâ ahead of Mondayâs motion.
âI feel great, just talked to my lawyers,â Ford said.
Fordâs brother, Coun. Doug Ford said he âcanât waitâ for the next municipal election.
âThe people are going to decide, not 43 councillors, are going to determine whoâs mayor,â Doug Ford said. âSo theyâve trampled on his rights, people have seen that, trampled on their rights too -- weâll go from there.â
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 ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝ Channel on Sunday that only Wynne has the power to remove Ford from office.
âCouncil itself has no authority to remove one of its members, an elected member, from council,â Mascarin said. âThat can only be done from provincial legislation.â