Rob Ford offered something of an apology to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale earlier today during a city council meeting. Kind of. Addressing members of council and those in attendance -- of which it would appear Dale was not one -- Ford read a prepared statement. "I want to take this opportunity to clarify my comments made in an interview with Conrad Black and to apologize to Daniel Dale for the way in which the media has interpreted my statements," Ford began. "I never called Mr. Dale a pedophile, I do not believe Mr. Dale is a pedophile. My comments related to the fear I had for my family when my long-time neighbour told me that someone was lurking at my fence and appeared to be taking pictures of my family home over the fence."

The Mayor then explained that he had nothing against Dale, only his superiors at the Toronto Star. "I did not mean to insinuate anything personally about Mr. Dale in my interview with Conrad Black," the Mayor explained. "I certainly did not mean to insinuate that he was a pedophile... It's unfortunate the word I did not say has been ascribed to me by the media, but I wish to sincerely apologize to Mr. Dale if my actual words have caused him any harm or personal offence."

Is this a good enough apology? It certainly meets the standards of self-defence (I didn't mean it) but he fails to register much responsibility for the nature of his claims aside from a half-baked explanation that he was protecting his family. Most would argue that accountability for one's actions is the true measure of saying sorry. I'm not so sure this meets that criteria. Share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo of Ford from a previous council meeting