Norm Kelly urges Rob Ford to step aside, get professional help

ABOVE: City hall reacts to the latest allegations about Mayor Rob Ford

TORONTO –Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly is again urging Mayor Rob Ford to step aside, amid a resurgence of scandal surrounding an alleged crack video.

“It’s the message that I gave to him previously, privately and then publicly; that you have to take a break, you’ve got to step aside and you’ve got to seek professional help in rebuilding your personal life,” Kelly said.

The mayor seems unlikely to heed Kelly’s advice; showing up to work Thursday and voting against deferring a decision on the Porter Airlines expansion.

Read More: Rob Ford tried to buy crack video, new documents allege

Ford is also refusing to answer questions from Toronto’s media about the latest round of allegations and at one point barged through a crush of reporters as he exited the executive committee meeting.

He’s so far remained mum on the latest allegations in Toronto, but did call some “outright lies” while being interviewed on a Washington radio station.

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Documents released Wednesday suggested the mayor not only knew about the alleged crack video prior to its media coverage but may have offered $5,000 and a car for it.

In depth: The Rob Ford saga

None of the statements made in the documents have been proven in court.

“All allegations so we don’t know whether they’re true, they have to be taken in context,” Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said. “But if they are true, it looks like the mayor has been involved in drugs and gangs.”

Watch: Councillors react to latest allegations about Mayor rob Ford. 

Despite the scandal entangling city hall, Kelly – the de facto mayor – is adamant business will continue unimpeded.

“These are issues that are very personal to the mayor and that it will not serve as a distraction to myself or to my colleagues on council,” he said. “It will be the business of the city first.”

Read More: What the latest Rob Ford documents tell you that you didn’t already know (plus one unanswered question)

He noted that had the latest round of court documents been released prior to council stripping the mayor of his power, the new allegations may have had a more profound political impact.

“Well procedurally at city hall, politically at city hall, it doesn’t change anything at all,” he said. “If this information had come down two weeks earlier it might have had an impact.”