Responding to calls from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s brother that he step down, Police Chief Bill Blair says he will continue to do his job.
Blair told reporters Tuesday morning, that it's important for the police service to refrain from responding to any "personal attacks."
"We're simply doing our jobs, collecting evidence and putting it before the courts. And that's what we're endeavoring to do," Blair told reporters at police headquarters.
His comments came as Coun. Doug Ford held his own news conference in which he called on Blair to step down after showing a "bias" against the mayor.
Ford says Blair crossed a line after commenting on a video recovered by police in which the mayor is allegedly seen smoking from what appears to be a crack pipe.
In a news conference last week, Blair said he was "disappointed" with what he saw in the video, and called it a “traumatic issue” for the city.
Doug Ford said Blair’s comments were unacceptable.
"The chief shouldn't have come out and made the comments while he was wearing the police chief's uniform about his personal opinions about the mayor," Ford said. "This creates a bias towards the mayor, it creates a bias towards Sandro Lisi's case. This compromises the chief."
However, Blair said he was making a "sincere effort" not to offer his opinion about the recovered video.
"I was making a very sincere effort on Thursday not to offer any suggestions on what should then transpire or any opinion. I was asked a very specific question about how I felt and I responded with how I felt," Blair said.
Doug Ford, who also accused Blair of having a conflict of interest with a member of the Toronto Police Services Board, said he intends to write to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director about the matter.
Asked if he was "setting off a war" with the police chief, Ford was blunt.
"The police chief doesn't intimidate me. I'm the only one with political will that will stand here and hold the police chief to account," he said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Rob Ford is no longer expected to attend the annual police chief's gala on Wednesday.
Ford had been invited to Blair’s annual gala as a head-table guest, but the invitation was reportedly retracted after Blair’s headline-grabbing press conference.
The event co-chair, Brian Moniz, said in a statement to the Globe and Mail that he called the mayor’s chief of staff to discuss the optics of Ford's attendance at the gala. However, he said the mayor was not "uninvited."
Despite growing calls for his resignation, Ford has maintained he intends to finish his term as mayor and plans to run for re-election.
During his weekly radio broadcast Sunday afternoon, during which he apologized for his “mistakes”, Ford called on Blair to release the video.
Toronto police have since reiterated that they will not be releasing any video, as it is up to the courts to decide how evidence is treated.
