toronto doug ford

Doug Ford says police chief Bill Blair should resign

Doug Ford continued the Ford brothers' scorched earth response to the crack video scandal, saying police chief Bill Blair should step down because of his "bias" against the mayor and a fishing trip he took with Toronto Police Services Board member Andrew Pringle.

"He believes he's the judge, jury, and executioner - he wanted to go out and put a political bullet right between the mayor's eyes," he said on John Oakley's AM640 show about Blair's decision to confirm the existence of the alleged crack video.

"I think personally, this is just Doug Ford's opinion, he needs to step down until the probe is done ... there's obviously a bias right now, moving forward in this city, with the police chief against the mayor of this city."

Ford also hit out at the decision to retract the mayor's invite to the annual police gala.

"Last time I checked this wasn't the police chief's personal gala," he told CBC's Metro Morning. "This is a community event that's gone on for years and will continue going on for years no matter who the mayor and who the police chief is."

"Who's holding the police chief accountable when one of his board members is his fishing buddy," he added, echoing a statement he had made a short time earlier on AM640.

"That's a massive, massive conflict of interest ... the board member needs to step down, the board needs to do a probe ... we're talking about Andy Pringle - he's not very friendly toward Rob Ford to say the least."

Pringle was appointed to the police board in September 2011. Both Rob and Doug Ford voted in favour of that decision. He and his wife Valerie, former host of Canada AM, Antiques Roadshow and recipient of the Order of Canada, each donated $2,500 to Rob Ford's 2010 election campaign.

Doug Ford repeated the sentiments during a press conference at City Hall. He said he would be writing formal letters of complaint about Blair and called on Pringle to step aside as well. "He should go through proper process. He shouldn't of made his personal comments about him being disappointed, this will affect the city. He was wearing the police chief's uniform."

What do you think of Doug Ford's statement? Did Bill Blair act inappropriately when he revealed the existence of the video?

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Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Chris Bateman/blogTO


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