Rob Ford cancels Thursday’s 1-on-1 interview with CityNews

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has cancelled a one-on-one interview with CityNews political specialist Cynthia Mulligan, which had been scheduled for Thursday.

It’s the second time in the past 24 hours that the mayor has either postponed or cancelled the interview.

Last week, campaign manager Doug Ford promised a sit-down interview with the mayor once he left his Muskoka rehab facility. That interview was supposed to take place Wednesday, alongside a handful of other local and national media. Doug Ford assured Mulligan she’d be able to ask questions on any topic.

On Tuesday, a day after the mayor’s highly anticipated news conference, CityNews was told that its interview had been moved to Thursday.

On Wednesday evening, Ford’s newly appointed communications director Jeff Silverstein informed Mulligan that the Thursday interview was cancelled outright so the mayor can “focus solely on the campaign.”

 

The noon interview would have been carried live on CityNews.ca and the CityNews apps, and later broadcast on City and radio station 680News.

He also is believed to have cancelled interviews with Global News, CTV and Sun News Network.

Rob Ford did do interviews on Wednesday with two Toronto television reporters. During those, he admitted that he’s been an addict for many years, has consumed a plethora of drugs and used racist and homophobic slurs because his “disease” turned him into someone else.

The cancellations are the latest controversy to surround the way the mayor has interacted with the media since his return from rehab.

On Monday, only some members of the city hall press gallery were allowed to attend his news conference, with others forced to listen outside or watch online or on television. Among those not allowed in: press-gallery president David Nickle, a reporter with the Metroland group of community papers.

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