Toronto's city councilors voted in favor of scaling back Mayor Rob Ford's political power, following sexually explicit comments made to members of the press on Thursday.
44-year-old Ford, who was already in hot water for admitting that he'd smoked crack once before, along with reportedly abusing prescription pills, apologized publicly for making "graphic" remarks concerning his wife Renata Ford and a city staffer he'd allegedly requested engage in oral sex with him.
In his speech, Ford expressed regret for telling reporters, "it says I wanted to eat [Olivia Gondek's] p----, I've never said that in my life to her...I'm happily married, I've got more than enough to eat at home."
Flanked by his forlorn wife hours later, Ford tried to pick up the pieces in a televised statement.
"I used unforgiveable language, and again, I apologize," Ford told the press, adding that he was aggressively seeking counseling for his alcohol problem, the New York Daily News reported.
But his sorry was not enough for some city officials, many of whom turned away from Ford when he stood up to make his announcement.
One politician chastised Ford for his "disgraceful language" while a former friend in office told him, "Apology not accepted," AFP reported.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she was ready to submit a bid to remove the mayor from office, which Mayor Ford flatly said he would not consider during Thursday's apology. But the city council decided instead to draft a request to curb the mayor's functions as the city's leader, essentially rendering him the city's leader in name only.
Councilor John Fillion told AFP that the ultimate end goal was to "try to contain the mayor so that he doesn't bring down the reputation of council or of the city."
"We can't control his behavior, but certainly we can ensure that city business carries on as usual, perhaps even better," he said.
The request moved to scale back the mayor's budget and staff and take away his ability to appoint committee chairs and hire heads of the fire department, AFP reported.
Ford largely kept quiet during the morning debate, save a few questions. He asked how it would be possible to manage the shifting of powers, and questioned whether he should step down. But the mayor also swore he'd appeal any decision to get rid of him or curb his powers.
"I have no other options but to challenge this in court, he said, pointing out that he did not fire the committee chairs who asked him to step down. "This [motion] will be precedent-setting and if we move ahead with this, then obviously if someone else steps out of line like I have, it is going to affect councilors and the mayor I think for years to come. So obviously I cannot support this."
A video of Ford smoking crack began circulating the Internet last week, forcing the mayor to admit that he'd hit the glass pipe before in his life. He also has had to apologize for a handful of "drunken stupors."
WARNING: This video contains explicit language.
