Military Ball Organizers Back Mayor Ford, Saying He Was Not Asked to Leave

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Several organizers of the controversial military gala, which Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford attended, are contradicting a newspaper report published in the Toronto Star stating that Ford was asked to leave the event last month because he appeared to be impaired. The story of Tuesday’s edition of Toronto Star asserted that Ford arrived late and seemed intoxicated to the Garrison Ball, on Feb. 23 at the Liberty Grand at Exhibition Place.

The Toronto Star’s story quoted a member of the mayor’s executive committee and a Garrison Ball organizer, Coun. Paul Ainslie, to have said that he indeed  requested Ford’s chief of staff to “have the mayor leave the event.” However, on the contrary, six out of thirteen Garrison Ball organizers issued collective open letter in denial of the Star’s and Ainslie’s version of events. The open letter asserted that they didn’t ask Ford to leave, nor did Ainslie. The letter mentioned that “as a civilian member of the volunteer organizing committee of the 2013 Toronto Garrison Ball, I can confirm that I did not ask Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto, to leave the event on February 23, 2013 for any reason.” Additionally, it further added that “to my knowledge, no member of the event’s organizing committee, including Councillor Paul Ainslie, directed the Mayor to leave the event that night.”

The controversial Toronto Star’s story quoted six unnamed sources confirming that Ford seemed impaired, however, their identities were not revealed due to fear of losing jobs and political retribution.