Original subtitles

Well,

good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to take this opportunity to address a number of issues that have

circulated in the media over the last few days.

I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

Holy shit.

Holy shit. Holy crap.

I just cannot believe what the mayor of Toronto just said on live television.

It's enough, and I want respect.

From the moment Brock Ford was elected, we all recognized that this was not

going to be a boring four years.

The public loved him.

He was like a rock star.

His success made no sense by any normal political standards.

This is factoring a quick motion. Staff doesn't support it. You're fed.

He turned City Hall into a circus.

He does not have a shred of credibility.

He was always delivering this image of the everyman.

But what he told everybody was a lot.

All of a sudden, we realized control of Canada's biggest cities was in the hands

of a man who had no personal control over his life.

Get off my property!

You are an alcoholic, which, you know.

I said, Rob, they say they have a video of you smoking crack cocaine.

And he told me, don't worry, buddy, there's no video.

Trust me, I've seen it. He is smoking drugs in this video.

It's lies after lies and lies.

Whoa, I can't believe I'm here right now. This is nuts.

When you attack my integrity, I see red.

There were just so many twists and turns that you couldn't predict it.

Oh, and the last thing was Olivia Gondek says that I wanted to eat her.

Buckle up. Like, this is going to get wild.

The raccoons were in it.

In the overflowing dumpsters on Spadina overnight, their paws sticky at the

feast, courtesy of the garbage strike, now 16 days old.

Back in 2009, I was an assignment editor at a 24 -hour news station in Toronto.

Toronto is the fourth largest city in North America, and the garbage strike

just gripping the city. And it was just... Disgusting. The garbage is

up and people are throwing it at fortunes. They're just throwing it

you know, that's not right.

In order for me to go to work, I'd have to grab some rock on the road and I

would throw it to scatter the raccoons.

There was garbage piling up when it was hot and stinky and smelly. Now the track

is baking in temperatures that hit more than 30 degrees today.

It was particularly damaging for the mayor then, a man named David Miller.

The mayor, quite frankly, isn't showing very much leadership in this dispute.

The garbage strike kind of politically wounded him, and he decided to step back

in 2010 and end his mayoralty.

There was no sort of favourite waiting in the wings, ready to go, meaning the

race was wide open for anyone to jump in and sort of steal the narrative and

steal those headlines.

Can you tell them that he's here?

As a friend of Rob Ford, I phoned him right away. I said, Rob, you got to run.

He says, you think so, buddy?

And I said, yes, this is the time for you.

I mean, right from the very beginning of his political life, he considered

himself a public servant.

He worked for the people. Word was they wanted to be represented, and they

weren't represented.

And there was no secret to it. They said, Rob, are you going to be a full

counselor? I said, absolutely.

People were upset.

And people were tired of City Hall. And that's why I knew this area was ripe for

someone like Rob.

And so much so that I actually quit my direct marketing job and I went to work

for him as a social media guy.

It's time to stop the gravy train that provides luxuries and perks to

politicians and rich contracts to their friends.

I remember the first time I saw Rob right after the 2003 election, and I

thought, where did this guy come from?

He was so aggressive

that a lot of people didn't want to sit near him, and he was always changing

seats until he ended up two seats away from me.

talking to you okay counselor rob ford was a controversial counselor known

for saying things that were not politically correct if you're not doing

and you're not gay you won't get age probably one day i started talking to

and he said i'm gonna run for mayor buddy and i was like oh rob don't do

you know you're gonna lose you have no chance of winning why put your family

through that and he would say no no i'm gonna win buddy really i'm gonna win

Run against me. If you think you can do a better job for my constituents in Ward

2, run against me. A friend of mine called me and said, what do you know

Rob Ford?

And whether I thought he could be mayor.

And I said, no.

I don't think he can be mayor.

I spent 14 years as an army officer in the Canadian Forces.

I came back to Canada exhausted and completely disconnected from my business

network. And so I was looking for a job.

My introduction to the Ford family was Rob's older brother, Doug Ford.

He said, will you come on as the chief of staff?

And I said, yes, because I honestly thought it was going to be six weeks'

because I didn't think Rob Ford could go very far.

Doug and Rob were very close.

Doug obviously had an enormous influence because he was the older brother and

the campaign manager.

There was always an understanding.

that this was the Ford family enterprise.

Rob Ford may be new to politics, but his family isn't. My father represented

South of the 401.

Rob's late father came from the streets and made himself into a

multimillionaire. I raised my family out here. We started a business on a ping

pong table in a basement.

He ran a printing company.

Oh, here's a...

Here's a Rob Ford sticker from Deco, which was the company at the time.

That man was somebody that was very tough on his kids. And so, you know,

Rob was always trying to, you know, please his father in a lot of ways. Why

don't you shut your mouth?

His father had also been a politician and played football.

Rob. Loved football, but wasn't good at it.

He had no aptitude for business, so the only thing left for him to please his

dad was to go into politics.

Doug Ford had sketched down his visual of how we were going to launch.

It would be at the Toronto Congress Centre, and it would have 5 ,000 people

and I laughed. I didn't laugh out loud, I laughed quietly, because I've never

seen a political event that was more than a couple of hundred people. 5 ,000

seemed to be ridiculous.

But through social media, we amassed a bunch of our supporters.

And what we were going to do is march to City Hall.

We're going to be in about five minutes. We're going to walk up Yonge Street.

At the very last minute, if anybody knows Toronto, we walked up Victoria

where there is a TV studio.

So we walked by the TV studio.

They stopped the breakfast morning show to mention, to talk about, look at this.

It was brilliant, free publicity on launch day. And I

was embarrassed that it wasn't my idea. It was like, brilliant, Tom, great idea,

lead us on.

I'm from Etobicoke, where Rob Ford is from.

We're around the same age. I'm a little older than him. But, you know, one -on

-one, like, I found him quite personable and interesting.

So I thought, well, of course, I should cover this.

And I'll admit, I drove out to Etobicoke not knowing what to expect.

And I got to this large hall, and I thought, is he actually going to be able

like, fill this?

I was the only daily news reporter there.

But I walked in and with so many people already packed in, they kept having to

run back and get more chairs.

The room was full.

I told him there was about 2 ,000 people there, would be my estimate.

He gets up onto the stage and says, thank you, thank you so much for coming.

Wow, there's 5 ,000 people here tonight.

Because if you say it, it's true.

I looked around that room and there were Bay Street bankers and there were...

bus drivers.

I feel that Rob Ford should be the next mayor for Toronto.

He's going to look after my money and your money.

The people that came out to support him was a cross -section of the city of

Toronto. I think he's a man of integrity.

Rob is the guy for the people by the people.

The way his campaign was put to me was Rob Ford gives his business card out to

almost everybody he meets and he says if you have any problems Call me.

A colleague of mine tells me a story about her dad had a tree in his backyard

and the tree was dying.

My friend's father called Rob Ford.

He came to the house. He looked at the tree and he mediated sort of a solution.

So he got things done on the ground.

Do you have any problems with your unit? Your shower, your stove, fridge?

He helped everybody.

It didn't matter if you were in his ward.

It didn't matter anywhere in the city. And he was adored for that.

Rob Ford is the best. He is honest. We need somebody who can stand for what he

believes in. Come on, Toronto.

Rob Ford for man.

The love, the power, the support in that room for him was mind -blowing. And for

the first time.

I thought, I think this guy could win.

Media was quite surprised at how popular Rob was

becoming. I'm looking for the guy. Ready?

I'm ready. So they started to dig into his past.

Ford has faced scrutiny over an impaired driving conviction in Florida in 1999.

Rob Ford revealed the charge after a recent newspaper report accused him of

lying about a possession of marijuana charge.

I made a mistake. I'm only human, and I don't know what more to say. I

apologize. That apology from 2006 after he lied about swearing and yelling at a

couple during a hockey game while drunk.

But despite all of those stories...

His popularity did just keep growing.

People are sick of wasteful spending, that's for sure. So he's resonating with

people in that way, but he's a bit of a loose cannon.

I would be driving the campaign bus, and I'd get two responses.

People would be waving and cheering, and then other people would be giving me

the finger. There was no middle ground.

A day of choice, a day of change. The polls have just closed across the GTA,

where voters are electing their new mayors.

On election day, the Ford family gathers at the family house, and some select

media were invited.

The least confident person on our team was Rob Ford.

He was having a lot of doubt. He was having a lot of trepidation that this

didn't work, that he had screwed it up.

Pretty clear from the results we have so far that he has won this race. Rob Ford

is the mayor -elect in Toronto.

It was a big relief that he had won.

And we all went to the Congress Center, which is where we started the whole

thing. And thousands of people were there.

We were having to push and shove. He literally could almost not breathe.

It was like riot training in the army, like pushing through this mass of

But it did feel good, and it felt like a vindication because a lot of people

didn't think he could do it. I mean, I didn't think he could do it.

One, two, three, smile.

The first day on the job was quite incredible.

We were outsiders all that time, and now we are insiders.

I came to Toronto City Council the same time as Rob Ford was elected mayor.

I'd heard about him over the years for his very right -wing populist positions

on issues.

For the first year, he was able to get his agenda passed.

He just said, if you agree with me, I'll work with you, and if you don't, I will

destroy you.

He got city council to repeal a vehicle registration tax.

He got our local transit workers declared an essential service so that

couldn't strike.

He was taking off, you know, piece by piece.

his plan to make the city work and end the waste.

And so it was a good first year.

But there's little signs that Rob is not performing

at 100%. He would disappear from city

meetings to go coach football.

He coached a high school football team in Etobicoke.

His passion is coaching high school football, and it got him into trouble

as a counselor, he used office stationery to ask Toronto lobbyists to

to his football foundation.

That's a conflict of interest, and so a court case began.

The unprecedented court case had the city's chief magistrate running away

the media as he tried to avoid questions.

You can't talk, guys. The trial's still on. The judge ruled that it was, in

fact, a conflict of interest, and that the only punishment the law allowed...

was removal from office.

And Rob is upset.

This comes down to left -wing politics. The left -wing wants me out of here, and

they'll do anything in their power to it. I'm going to fight tooth and nail to

hold on to my job. And Rob Ford did appeal.

The mayor was beaming as he walked into his office minutes after a panel of

three judges unanimously ruled in favour of his appeal.

In the end, Rob won.

But... The stress of these court trials was clearly eating away at him.

It's the deepest part of winter 2013, and I am at the Garrison Ball in

which is an annual military gala.

These are some people that I know from my service in the military, and there's

fraternal bond there, so I'm kind of hoping to have an enjoyable evening.

I don't think Rob is going to be there.

because Rob had spent a weekend in Chicago with his brother and some

go down and watch a hockey game.

So it was kind of a boys' weekend away.

I get a text from the body man that dined for him that night saying, he's

coming. And I think, like, just crushing.

Very shortly thereafter, I get another message saying, they're here, I need you

now. And so I go to the front door, and Rob is there, and he is not in a good

way. He's dressed in a suit, but his collars are up, and one of his shirt

is untucked, and he looks drenched from sweat.

And I try to stop him from going in the room, and he basically tells me to step

out of the way or he's going to take me down.

Somebody called me and said, Tom, there's an issue with the mayor.

So I pulled into the parking lot, and there's Rob with Mark Toohey at a

headlock. And I thought it was quite comical until I realized, you know,

don't think Mark was really too happy about being in a headlock from Rob.

He eventually leaves, and I think, wow, we're going to read about this in the

morning.

I was working at the Toronto Star, and I got a tip that Rob Ford was so drunk.

And we had a city councillor on the record saying that he'd been asked to

Just as chief of staff, you know, I think it would be better for everybody

involved if the mayor left.

My experience covering Rob Ford really changed me as a journalist.

This is where it started to turn dark.

A front page story in the Toronto Star alleges Rob Ford has a drinking problem.

The Fords freaked out and they went, you know, totally ballistic on me and the

Toronto Star.

The Toronto Star going after me again and again.

and a game. The Toronto Star is generally considered a progressive

was an arch -conservative in a lot of ways.

They're relentless. That's fine.

I'll go head -to -head with the Toronto Star any time. He officially cut us off.

It's just lies after lies and lies, and I've called you pathological liars.

Rob Ford demonizing the media years before Donald Trump did the same thing

extremely effective.

He wanted to plant the seeds of mistrust.

in the public's mind so that when the media did report something bad about

he could say, see, they're out to get me. And he would ramp it up every time

knew that there might be another scandal.

One day, I was working on a story.

I remember getting a call from this guy who said he had a video of Ford smoking

crack.

It was April Fool's Day, which is never the day you want to get a call like

that.

But yeah, I mean, I just, I handled it as professionally as I could and said,

okay, well, you know, tell me more.

Can I see it?

Can we meet?

So we met at a parking lot.

This guy pulled up and said, you know, leave your bags and your phone, et

cetera, in your car, get in this car, and then drove us to a different

Another individual got in the car.

They seemed very nervous.

I remember that they wouldn't let us hold the phone.

They were holding the phone, kind of showing it to us.

But when the screen turned on, it was just so obvious that it was Rob Ford

smoking out of a glass pipe.

Holy shit.

And then they wanted to sell it to us for $100 ,000.

But Canadian media does not pay for news.

You know, something like the National Enquirer might do or TMZ, but that

happen here. Now what?

We all gathered in the Toronto Star newsroom to figure out what we needed

we could publish the story without having to tape ourselves.

And I just remember kind of sitting at my desk and sort of putting my head down

on my desk because I was like, maybe this story is never going to come out.

And then about two weeks after we saw the video, I remember I was at a

book launch and all of a sudden someone came over to me and said, Robin, did you

see this? And the screen was Gawker.

The U .S. website called Gawker published.

A story where they said the editor, John Cook, had seen the same video.

Now it's out there. We could publish the story.

It was on the front page the next day that said star reporters have seen a

in which Rob Ford appears to be smoking crack cocaine.

The paper acknowledges it cannot verify the video and says it did not pay for it

and doesn't have a copy.

Doolittle, a City Hall reporter, believes.

It is the mayor.

Looks like Mayor Rob Ford, sounds like Mayor Rob Ford.

Holy shit.

Our mayor just got caught in a crack cocaine scandal on video.

It was so shocking.

It was unprecedented for a mayor to be involved in anything like that.

You know, I knew things were kind of crazy, but I certainly didn't know they

were that crazy.

When I saw the story,

I thought, that's a problem.

And I called him and I said, Rob, they say they have a video of you smoking

crack cocaine.

And he told me, don't worry, buddy, there's no video.

And that was not the answer I wanted to hear.

Because to me, that suggested that there could have been a video.

I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not

exist.

It is most unfortunate that I have been judged by the media without any

evidence. The mayor says it didn't happen. It didn't happen. Our messaging

always the same as Rob's. We all know pictures can be photoshopped. It could

have been forward, but I doubt it.

I just don't think it's his style.

There was a poll done in the city and something like 50 % of people in Toronto

thought that we had fabricated the crack story.

It's a very clear agenda trying to make as much problem for Rob Ford as

possible. I just really did not understand how much people mistrust

how the Fords really successfully had framed the media as a political

Let's be clear here. I'm going to answer. You ask the questions. If I get

interrupted, questions are over. Simple.

I started getting death threats.

Yeah, it was extremely tense.

The proof has yet to surface, clouding the world's view of Toronto, according

some on city council.

This is the chief magistrate of our great city, and it's a

problem.

I said that this was going to finish him unless he went to rehab.

And so at that point, I started to change every conversation that I had

him. Every time he wanted to talk about policy or an initiative or something

that he wanted done in the city, all I would say is, you need to go to rehab.

And I knew then that by giving him only that choice, he would either

eventually give in and go, or he would fire me.

And he chose option B, to fire me.

Have you urged the mayor to seek help?

My advice to the mayor is confidence.

That's why I walked out the front door with security basically marching me out.

Mark Toohey being fired was one of those pivotal moments.

It was not a good time for me. It was frustrating and it was angering. It just

felt like betrayal.

And then he just left, and it sort of left the reporters in this moment of

that something big was coming. I just didn't know what at that point.

So it's Halloween, and I remember getting a text from a police source who

are you near a TV?

You're going to want to watch this press conference in half an hour.

that we are now in possession of a recovered digital video file.

I will not be releasing it today.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair came out and said we've got the crack video.

He wouldn't share it but Toronto Police were in possession of that video.

That file contains video images which appear to be those

images which were previously reported in the press.

The crack video was captured in a massive gun smuggling raid after a

shooting in Toronto.

And ultimately, it was the individuals targeted in this investigation that the

mayor was seeming to be buying and smoking serious drugs with.

That's what started this second wave of chaos at Toronto City Hall.

Well, good afternoon. I think everybody's seen the

allegations. I think it's quite...

I think it's... No, you know what? No, no.

I have no reason to resign.

I'm going to go back. I'm going to return my phone calls.

I'm going to be out doing what the people elected me to do.

And that's save taxpayers money and run a great government that we've been

running for the last three years. So that's all I can say.

Again, that's all I can say.

Is this acceptable behavior for a mayor?

Is this acceptable behavior for a mayor? I've said everything I've said.

I was

working in corporate security

at City Hall.

On the day that the police chief, Bill Blair, came out and said that the police

were in the possession of the crack video, I was escorting Mayor Ford to his

car, and he said, listen, Jerry, I need some type of close protection because

the media, they were relentless. You're basically going to be my right -hand

man, you know?

I was just like, holy crap.

It's not every day that the mayor of the biggest city in Canada asks you to come

work for him. And so I was like, okay.

It was like I've been dropped into a storm.

It was relentless.

The media were hounding Rob.

Guys, you're under the cameras. Get off my driveway, please. It was a feeding

frenzy. It was sharks.

Can you get off my driveway?

Can you get off my property, please? No, get off my property! Take it off my

property! Okay,

here we go.

It just

became an absolute circuit.

And it got even worse. Then all of a sudden, international media's there.

You know, I'm trying to do my work at the front desk, and I had relatives from

Scotland texting me saying, Tom, we see you in Scotland, in Glasgow, and you're

at the mayor's office. What's going on over there?

Now, the rumors have been swirling around him since May, but now Canadian

say they've seen a video appearing to show the mayor of Toronto smoking a

pipe. He became the punchline to jokes on late -night talk shows.

Is this dude on crack?

He needs professional help, he needs amateur help, he can go see a witch

But to be fair, there's not a lot to do in Toronto. Come on, guys.

Meanwhile, Rob continued to deny and continued to just want to do business

as usual.

Whatever this video shows, folks, Toronto residents deserve to see it.

And Chief, I'm asking you to release this video now.

Rob, we've got to keep moving forward. As I say, keep your nose clean and move

forward.

He didn't believe that there was any kind of footage.

I didn't believe there was any kind of footage.

You guys have asked me a question back in May.

And you can repeat that question.

The question we asked him back in May.

Do you smoke crack cocaine?

Exactly.

Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.

But no, do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it?

Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago.

Yes, I've made mistakes.

All I can do now.

Let's apologize and move on. I don't know what else.

There's been times when I've been in a drunken stupor. That's why I want to see

the tape. I want everyone in the city to see this tape.

I'd like to see this tape. I don't even recall there being a tape or a video,

and I know that. So I want to see the state that I was in.

But that's exactly it. I want to get...

Nobody had seen the video.

But when Rob confessed, it was a huge blow to me and the team.

For six months, I talked to literally 100, 150 people a day.

And a lot of them were wondering about this crack thing.

I always have swore that that was false, it was not true.

And when he finally admitted it, I was actually crushed.

I was the longest serving staffer the entire time.

I was working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So much so that my wife left me.

You know, I had misled Toronto residents for all that time and then

proven wrong.

uh by the man himself so it took a real toll on me and um i

couldn't do it anymore

with

today's announcement i know i embarrassed

everyone in the city and i will be

Forever story.

Right after Rob admitted to smoking crack, everything seemed

to completely implode.

And it was only a matter of time until more videos came out.

There's one where he's in a house and he seems to be pantomiming some kind of a

fight.

It's extremely embarrassing.

And I don't know what to say. I'm again and again and again. I apologize.

At that time, the situation was so unbelievable day after day after day.

Have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years?

Yes, I have.

Scandal flew off Rob Ford like sweat off a runner.

It was classic Mayor Ford.

One moment contrite. I really, uh, have to stop.

The next, defiant.

I'm moving on. You guys can do what you want.

There were some days where we're just, I'm just like, whoa, I can't believe I'm

here right now. This is nuts.

As all of this was happening.

Then he just makes this offhand comment after he was accused of demeaning the

staffer named Olivia Gondek.

He wanted, oh, okay, so we're going to use some language.

I can't believe I'm in the office. I'm not going to say this.

But, you know, he said.

Oh, and the last thing was Olivia Gondek. It says that I wanted to eat her

pussy, Olivia Gondek. I've never said that. I'm happily married. I've got more

than enough to eat at home. Thank you very much.

As he said in council yesterday, he effed up.

And now using language that I don't think we can broadcast that on TV, but

just broadcast that on TV.

When things are constantly so shocking, you know how you sort of get numb to it?

This broke any spell of numbness.

And then there was this video of him speaking in a Jamaican patois, talking

about Bill Blair, the police chief of Toronto, who had started investigating.

I've almost forgotten that one.

I mean, it's just like, it all blurs.

Oh, I got to take some ownership here. Okay, so Rob really loves spicy food.

We get talking about Jamaican food, and he'd do a shirt, and he'd be like, oh,

buddy, you don't know, man. You don't, buddy. And then that's where we would

banter back and forth in Patois.

So he was just ranting and raving.

Like, you're wasting taxpayer dollars to try to find something on me, and you're

like, this is ridiculous.

It was a bona fide investigation by the Toronto police.

He got caught smoking crack cocaine with gun runners, opening himself up to

extortion as the mayor of Toronto who had an influence over the police budget.

So it was very clear to me and others that he could not remain mayor.

I came up with the idea of removing his powers. We have to try

to disarm the mayor as much as possible.

I offered to not make the motion if he would just agree to voluntarily go into

rehab, and he said no.

I voted for Rob Ford back in 2010, and damn was I ever wrong.

We walked into the council chamber.

And there's a bunch of people giving the mayor the finger, flipping him off.

You know, people started yelling, shame, shame, shame, and all hell broke loose.

You're the scumbag.

You're the scumbag, you little punk.

This was a session full of jaw -dropping moments.

When it couldn't get worse, it did.

The mayor ran into Councillor Pam O 'Connell, almost knocking her to the

I'm so shaking.

After the debates, voting began. It's still happening right now.

We could not remove Rob Ford as mayor.

Only the electorate can do that.

But what we were able to do was remove the powers of mayor, provide them

to the deputy mayor, and then work as a council in a collaborative, collegial

way to run the city.

This, folks, reminds me of when Saddam attacked Kuwait.

You guys have just attacked Kuwait.

Most people in Rob Ford's position, after going through the scandal and the

that he put all this through, would have stepped aside in shame.

What Rob Ford did is he leaned in on the scandal.

He tells Torontonians to re -elect him.

Rob Ford is holding his campaign launch here at the Congress Center in

Etobicoke. Volunteers are getting everything ready for the fundraiser.

How many do you think you'll sell tonight?

Oh, a lot. I think it's going to be phenomenal.

Of course he was going to run. Why retreat when you can just keep pushing

I've been the best mayor that the city's ever had. My record speaks for itself.

It was pretty incredible to see Rob Ford get up, say, I've done a great job as

mayor. Ford!

What was equally amazing is how many people cheered him on. You got my vote,

bro. I really appreciate the support, sir. It's very kind of you.

You're doing very well. People love a comeback story.

We guys are going to be resurrected.

You and Roquefort. There was a feeling that if he can keep his demons at bay,

that, you know, he has at least a very good shot of winning this thing.

In early 2014, I just left the Toronto Star and joined the Globe and Mail.

And then something like three days into the job, I get a call from someone who

said he had another video of Rob Ford smoking crack.

I just remember kind of standing there going, oh, damn.

Canadian media will pay for freelance photos.

So I remember just saying we should buy five screenshots.

from this video for $2 ,000 apiece. And the Globe just got it done. They were

like, yes, let's do this.

These are the damning pictures that surfaced tonight.

Snapshots of a new video allegedly showing Rob Ford with what could be a

pipe in his hand.

It just sort of added that layer of, you know, everything was already so

unbelievable. And then this.

It really built this frustration and anger among voters outside of Ford

that enough is enough.

And he's just like, yeah, I've got to get treatment and get help. And that's

where he went away to rehab.

Now, I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm just happy Mayor Ford is

finally getting the help he so desperately needs.

What's that? Really?

I'm told Rob Ford's escaped from rehab. He's on the loose in the Los Angeles

area. Let's take a look.

People really didn't get it. Like, it was hard for him.

He would call me up in the middle of the night at rehab. He's like, buddy, this

place is like jail, bro. This is like jail.

I'm like, hey, man, they got a gym up there? He's like, yeah, we'll start

working out.

So when he came back, the guy was about 30 pounds lighter.

There was one guy that I couldn't beat.

And it was that guy in the mirror. And one morning I got up. I said, that's it.

And they said, well, you can't. There's a mirror. I said, I'm going.

I have to take care of myself.

He was firing on all cylinders.

He's training, working out.

I'm like, yeah, we're back.

He also invited wrestlers, celebrities to show up at his office.

And he created a carnival atmosphere.

Remember one of those accidental tirades? He did say that he would kick

It was the day after Mike Tyson had come to City Hall.

We go for breakfast in the morning, and Rob had no appetite. And he's just like,

I don't know how to stop feeling well.

There's pain in my side.

It's like burning.

And Doug was like, Jerry, just take him to the hospital.

Okay, I drop him off.

He goes to see a doctor, and I just wait in the parking lot.

A few hours pass, and Rob calls me up. He's like, buddy, I don't know. It's not

looking good.

You got to call Doug and tell him to get here ASAP.

Doug shows up, and Doug and I go into the hospital, and we see Rob laying

and he tells us that they had to do a scan, and they found a tumor.

And I just broke down crying.

Sorry.

The diagnosis is a malignant liposarcoma. We think it's a fairly

aggressive tumor, a very rare tumor, and a very difficult tumor.

I feel so sad for Rob, for his illness, and I just pray he's going to be okay.

In spite of his illness, Rob Ford has decided to remain in the race for a seat

on city council while his brother Doug Ford runs for the top job in his place.

My brother Rob told me that he needed me to take the torch while he focuses on

getting better.

Rob dropped out of the mayor's race and his brother jumped into the mayor's

race.

Doug Ford came close to winning, having only jumped into the race with 30 days

left to go, so kudos to him.

Rob was re -elected as the counselor once again for World War II.

Rob would never, ever admit

defeat, even with cancer.

He thought he was going to beat it, like he'd beaten everything.

He was always, you know, the comeback kid.

It's World Cancer Day.

It seems very relevant to talk to you and find out how you're doing right now

this whole process.

Well, thanks for asking, Cynthia. It's very kind when people come up and ask

I'm doing.

I'm doing the best I can in this situation.

But I've got...

in both six months ago.

I can just keep my head up high every day, take one day at a time, and just

fighting and keep praying to struggle.

I'm outside Mount Sinai Hospital. This is where Rob Ford spent his last few

with his family by his side as he battled a rare and aggressive form of

It was like, you know, a Shakespearean tragedy where he didn't get that final

act where he was able to, you know, overcome all those demons and come back,

know, in a positive light. His ending was cut short and that in itself was a

tragedy. And I really miss him. He was a really good friend.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about some conversation that

had with him that it taught me something.

Oh, man, these emotions.

I'm proud and I'm honored that I'm able to share this side of the story and be

able to...

Give people an inside look as to why I stood by him through thick and thin. And

I don't care what anybody says.

They can go fly a kite.

At his funeral, you know, Doug told this story.

Rob loved his sandwiches.

I was working late one night, and Rob came in with a sub.

And he said, I went into Mr. Sub and Gus was there. And Gus worked 16 hours a

day trying to make a living.

And an order came in on the phone for Mr. Sub. And the total order

was about $32.

And Gus didn't have anyone to deliver it. I think you know where this story is

going here.

Rob's like,

well, just give it to me. I'll go deliver it for you.

See, imagine you ordered some subs, and then, and knock, and the mayor of

Toronto delivering your subs.

He said, he wouldn't believe it. I met, you know, four new voters, so I have

them as supporters now.

And he said, the best thing of it all, they gave me $35 and I got a $3 tip.

But again,

you know, that's classic Rob.

What do you think Rob Ford's legacy is?

Hmm.

What is Rob Ford's legacy?

I've been thinking about that because I knew you were going to ask me that

question. And I think Rob Ford's legacy, it all comes down to who you ask.

So, Mark, who was Rob Ford?

He was dishonest.

Selfless. Smart.

Outspoken.

Unpredictable. Exploitative.

You know, all of us have a Rob, you know, somewhere in our life.

And I think in the long run, history will think of him as a man who had an

illness, who, despite that, accomplished some things that had never been

accomplished before.

And the bad stuff, yeah, it speaks for itself.