The now-notorious Toronto Mayor Rob Ford expects to be back on the campaign trail for re-election by July 1.
Ford, currently seeking help at the GreeneStone Muskoka rehabilitation facility in Ontario, said in a recent interview that he “misses” his family and the citizens of Toronto.
“I can’t wait to come back,” Ford told the Toronto Sun last weekend during an exclusive interview. “I will be back, I guarantee you.”
The mayor took a leave of absence from his duties and re-election campaign on April 30 to find assistance for substance abuse. City officials had demanded his resignation after he was catapulted into international infamy last May following reports of a video allegedly showing him smoking crack cocaine and speaking racist and homophobic slurs. He was later stripped from most of his mayoral powers in November after admitting to the Toronto City Council that he previously purchased illegal drugs.
The mayor said he needs to accomplish more before he returns home. He expects to leave the rehab center on June 30 and arrive home by July 1 in time for Canada Day, the country’s national day and a federal holiday.
Ford previously disputed he had a substance abuse problem during an interview with TODAY Show’s Matt Lauer. In his most recent interview with the newspaper, Ford said no one enabled him to drink excessively or use drugs.
“I am coming back and you will see a different Rob Ford,” he told the newspaper.
Ford also told the Toronto Sun that he will win the Toronto mayoral election, which is set this year for Oct. 27.
