Ontario politicians admit to smoking marijuana
By Don Peat, Hank Danisweski and Antonella Artuso, QMI Agency
Two big-city mayors -- Joe Fontana of London, Ont., and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford -- and Ontario's premier casually admitted Wednesday to having smoked weed.
Ford was first, informing reporters he'd "smoked a lot" of marijuana.
Then, Fontana rattled off what might be the best quip so far when approached in London: "I was a drummer in a rock band in the late '60s. What do you think I was doing? . . . I never exhaled."
Ford -- who's been battling drug allegations for months -- was asked in Toronto for his reaction to federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Premier Kathleen Wynne's pot-smoking confessions.
"I don't know why they are all coming out," Ford shrugged. "You've got to ask them."
The mayor of Canada's largest city was then asked if he's ever smoked marijuana.
"Oh, yeah," Ford said, smiling. "I won't deny that. I've smoked a lot of it."
Ford was then whisked away by his handlers as reporters tried to ask when was the last time he burned one or tried any other drug. Ford's pot-smoking admission comes four months after he was accused of
appearing in a video allegedly smoking crack cocaine. In the wake of that scandal, Ford denied he was addicted to crack or a user of that drug and refused to comment on the video.
Ford was caught in Florida with a marijuana joint in his pocket in 1999.
When QMI Agency confronted him about that arrest in 2010, Ford said he no longer uses marijuana.
"I don't use drugs," Ford said in August 2010 at the height of the mayoral campaign. "I'm not in that scene."
Ford and Fontana are the latest Canadian politicians to admit to using marijuana in less than a week.
Wynne said earlier Wednesday she'd smoked the drug "very infrequently" decades ago, but stopped before getting into politics.
Wynne was answering a question about Trudeau, who said in an interview published last week he last smoked pot about three years ago, after being elected as an MP, and had used the drug five or six times in his life.
"I have smoked marijuana but not for the last 35 years -- very, very infrequently and certainly not since my children were born and my eldest is 33," Wynne said Wednesday, when asked about any past pot use.
"It's never been a big part of my life."
Do you think we are any closer?? At least in ontario?
By Don Peat, Hank Danisweski and Antonella Artuso, QMI Agency
Two big-city mayors -- Joe Fontana of London, Ont., and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford -- and Ontario's premier casually admitted Wednesday to having smoked weed.
Ford was first, informing reporters he'd "smoked a lot" of marijuana.
Then, Fontana rattled off what might be the best quip so far when approached in London: "I was a drummer in a rock band in the late '60s. What do you think I was doing? . . . I never exhaled."
Ford -- who's been battling drug allegations for months -- was asked in Toronto for his reaction to federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Premier Kathleen Wynne's pot-smoking confessions.
"I don't know why they are all coming out," Ford shrugged. "You've got to ask them."
The mayor of Canada's largest city was then asked if he's ever smoked marijuana.
"Oh, yeah," Ford said, smiling. "I won't deny that. I've smoked a lot of it."
Ford was then whisked away by his handlers as reporters tried to ask when was the last time he burned one or tried any other drug. Ford's pot-smoking admission comes four months after he was accused of
appearing in a video allegedly smoking crack cocaine. In the wake of that scandal, Ford denied he was addicted to crack or a user of that drug and refused to comment on the video.
Ford was caught in Florida with a marijuana joint in his pocket in 1999.
When QMI Agency confronted him about that arrest in 2010, Ford said he no longer uses marijuana.
"I don't use drugs," Ford said in August 2010 at the height of the mayoral campaign. "I'm not in that scene."
Ford and Fontana are the latest Canadian politicians to admit to using marijuana in less than a week.
Wynne said earlier Wednesday she'd smoked the drug "very infrequently" decades ago, but stopped before getting into politics.
Wynne was answering a question about Trudeau, who said in an interview published last week he last smoked pot about three years ago, after being elected as an MP, and had used the drug five or six times in his life.
"I have smoked marijuana but not for the last 35 years -- very, very infrequently and certainly not since my children were born and my eldest is 33," Wynne said Wednesday, when asked about any past pot use.
"It's never been a big part of my life."
Do you think we are any closer?? At least in ontario?
