Toronto's Chief Budget Officer Councillor Frank Di Giorgio (L) shares a moment with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford during a budget meeting at City Hall in Toronto on Jan. 30, 2014.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says his wild, hard-drinking days are behind him and that he’s focused on winning reelection in what is sure to be a closely-watched mayoral election this fall.
“I have a drink from time to time,” Ford said Tuesday on the Today show. But he said of heavy drinking: “That’s past me, and we’re moving on, and I just can’t wait for the campaign, and I want to start debating my opponents.”
Toronto’s mayoral election is Oct. 27.
In an interview last November, after the Toronto City Council stripped Ford of nearly all governing authority following his admission that he’d smoked crack “probably in a drunken stupor,” Ford challenged Lauer to follow up with him after several months of rehabilitation.
“I have a weight issue. I’ve been training every day. All I can say is actions speak louder than words. I invite you to come back. Give me five or six months, and if they don’t see a difference, I’ll eat my words,” Ford said then.
On Tuesday, Ford said he goes to the gym every day and is “down a few pounds.”
“I don’t use illegal drugs,” he said. “I experimented with them probably a year ago, but I don’t use drugs.”
A new video surfaced in January this year featuring a drunken Ford, months after he vowed he was on the wagon.