Police Chief Bill Blair rejects Doug Ford's apology
Doug Ford has apologized for accusing Toronto police Chief Bill Blair of leaking information to the media as a form of revenge against Mayor Rob Ford, but the chief has rejected the apology.
Mark Pugash, a spokesman for the chief, said Blair has not received the text of Ford's apology for approval, so the terms in the notice of defamation have not been met.
"If he feels I impugned his reputation, I apologize," said Ford on Wednesday afternoon at city hall. "It will be up to the chief if he wants to move forward with this."
Blair served the Etobicoke councillor with a defamation notice on Tuesday.
This morning the councillor called the chief to offer an apology, but the conditions of the notice of defamation state the apology must be approved by lawyers beforehand.
Pugash said the chief has yet to receive any text from the councillor.After Ford received word of Blair's response, he said his lawyers would draw up the text of the apology and send it to Blair.
The dispute between the two surrounds comments Ford made when it was revealed his brother would be served a subpoena to appear in court in the case of his friend, Alexander (Sandro) Lisi. The mayor has yet to be issued that subpoena.
The mayor's brother called that politically motivated "payback" and said the police went to the media before telling the mayor about the subpoena.
"You wonder why we need a change at the top? This is why we need a change at the top," said Doug Ford at the time, referring to Blair, whose contract as chief is not being renewed.
The chief previously said that Ford was lying before serving the councillor with the notice.
Ford said he "100 per cent" retracts his comments.
"It's time to bury the hatchet. Let's hang up the gloves," he said.
