Blair backs Ford's account of 911 calls 

By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief

Toronto Police Chief issued a statement Friday confirming Mayor Rob Ford did not use the word "bitches" in a call to 911, contrary to a CBC report. (Toronto Sun files)

TORONTO - Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair backed Mayor Rob Ford against the CBC Friday.
Blair released a statement Friday afternoon backing up Ford’s account of his calls with 911 and blowing away the CBC’s original news report.
The chief’s unprecedented statement left both Ford loyalists and Ford critics calling on the CBC to apologize to the mayor while the broadcaster repeated that they have “multiple, credible, well-placed sources” to back up their report.
“The content of those conversations has been misrepresented by what are claimed to be ‘several anonymous sources,’ presumably from within the TPS, in which case I have to set the record straight,” Blair stated. “I have listened to the three emergency calls. The mayor did not use the word ‘bitches,’ attributed to him by those ‘several anonymous sources.’ The mayor did not describe himself as the original account claimed.”
Ford said Thursday he didn’t use the word “bitch” or proclaim “I’m Mayor Rob f---ing Ford” to Toronto 911 dispatchers after This Hour Has 22 Minutes ambushed him in his driveway.
Despite Ford’s statement, the CBC stuck to its story Thursday saying “multiple sources” gave them information about the 911 call.
Blair said he felt it was “necessary to set the record straight about the conversations” and stressed “there have been no complaints by any members of the TPS about the 911 conversations.”
The CBC stuck to its guns Friday night.
“We have multiple, credible, well-placed sources within TPS, including a dispatcher, we are reporting what was told to us,” CBC spokesman Chris Ball said in an e-mail.
The chief’s statement came as calls for Ford to release the 911 tapes grew.
Ford left Toronto Friday to attend the Pan Am Games closing ceremony in Guadalajara, Mexico.
When reached in Mexico, Ford declined comment and referred calls to his press secretary, Adrienne Batra
Batra was tight-lipped Friday night about whether he would ever release those tapes.
“There will be no further comment on this matter from the mayor’s office,” Batra said.
Outspoken Ford critic Councillor Adam Vaughan, a former journalist, said the CBC should say its sorry.
“They owe (Ford) an apology,” Vaughan said. “They stood behind that story as a corporation (Thursday), that has serious implications.”
But Vaughan said the mayor should still authorize the cops to release the 911 tapes to reveal how he treated a public servant and whether he demanded special treatment.
Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said the CBC “should apologize directly to (Ford’s) children.”
“I think it is time for the enemies of the mayor to stop using him as a target for their own political reasons,” Mammoliti said. “It is time to get down to business.”
Mammoliti said there are still questions about how the content of the tapes surfaced in the first place.
“How did the tapes leak and who is going to get fired over it?” he asked. “Whoever did it, did it specifically to hurt the mayor.”