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Mayor Rob Ford appears to suggest on TV that Star reporter is a pedophile

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Mayor Rob Ford sparked yet another controversy and the threat of legal action when he appeared to accuse a newspaper reporter of having pedophilic tendencies in a televised interview.

The Toronto Star journalist, Daniel Dale, denounced any such suggestion as “categorically false.”

“It’s amazing. I don’t know what to say about it,” Dale said in an interview Tuesday.

“In the calmest terms possible, it is unpleasant when the mayor of the biggest city in Canada essentially accuses you, or suggests, you are a pedophile.”

The scandal-plagued mayor, who has lost most of his mayoral powers, made the comment in a Vision TV interview Monday night with former media baron and convicted felon, Conrad Black.

At one point in the interview, Black asked Ford about media intrusion on his family’s privacy, and Ford singled out Dale for an incident that happened in May 2012.

Ford had confronted Dale outside the mayor’s west-end home in an adjacent park the mayor was looking to buy.

“Daniel Dale is in my backyard taking pictures. I have little kids. He’s taking pictures of little kids,” Ford said.

“I don’t want to say that word but you start thinking what this guy is all about.”

Dale, who seemed bemused by Ford’s comments, said at no time did he ever take any photographs of the mayor’s family, house or even his property — and a police investigation bore that out.

He said the Star’s lawyers were pondering next steps.

Ford was not immediately available to comment, but his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, said the mayor did not suggest Dale was a pedophile.

Neither Black nor Vision TV responded to a request for comment Tuesday.

However, Vision’s code of ethics warns against programming that misrepresents or incites hatred against any individual. It also promises that where a “significant unfairness occurs, it shall be admitted and corrected in a context of equal prominence.”

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who has assumed most of the mayor’s powers, denounced Ford’s comments.

“That’s not only a regrettable position of the mayor, but I think it’s dead wrong,” Kelly said.

“It’s almost beyond comment. It fits into a pattern that changes the focus from himself to someone else. It goes beyond the pale and I think there should be an apology for that.”

Toronto Star lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

However, in a statement in response to Ford’s remarks, the paper’s editor in chief Michael Cooke slammed Ford:

“Just when you think Mayor Ford has said the most stupid thing, such as letting the whole world know about his sex life at home, he tops himself with another outrage,” Cooke said.

“Mr. Ford calling reporter Daniel Dale a pedophile tells you all you need to know about our mayor’s brain. So sad for all of us.”

Among other things, Ford has garnered national and international attention for his admission to smoking crack cocaine, buying illegal drugs and making an obscene comment about a female aide on national television.

Kelly suggested it was time for reporters to give Ford a wider berth.

“If the media didn’t follow the mayor as closely as it has, I think it would take the oxygen out of the room,” Kelly said.


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