Even though he's more than 4,000 kilometres away from Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford is still making headlines across the country. This time for being ticketed for jaywalking on Friday night in Vancouver.
Amin Massoudi, a spokesperson for the mayor, confirmed to CTV News that Ford received a citation from the RCMP for jaywalking on Friday . Ford was fined for crossing the street when the light was red in the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam.
The mayor is in Vancouver to attend a funeral for the mother of his friend and former aide David Price.
Upon arriving at Vancouver's airport Friday afternoon, Ford told local reporters that he loved the city and had travelled to Vancouver for his honeymoon 14 years ago.
Late Friday, photos of Ford at a Coquitlam pub appeared on social media. In the photos, Ford is surrounded by crowds of people, many eager to take a photo with Canada's most famous mayor.
The trip to Vancouver comes a few days after a lawsuit was filed against Ford, alleging that the mayor conspired to have his sister's ex-boyfriend attacked in jail.
In a statement of claim, Scott MacIntyre alleges that the mayor arranged for jail staff to facilitate an attack on him to prevent Ford’s illicit behaviour from becoming public knowledge. MacIntyre was jailed in 2012, after pleading guilty to a charge of threatening the mayor.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and Ford's lawyer Dennis Morris said Wednesday that they're "without fact or foundation."
Ford has become something of a celebrity following a number of recent headline-making incidents, including his admission last year to smoking crack cocaine while in a “drunken stupor.”
An appearance at a Toronto nightclub in mid-January also resulted in a string of photos of Ford making the rounds on social media. A few weeks later, a video of Ford speaking in a Jamaican patois at a Toronto restaurant quickly went viral.
With files from The Canadian Press
