No word from Toronto’s Mayor Ford on libel notice served by reporter

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TORONTO, Cananda – Rob Ford is not commenting on a libel notice brought against him by a reporter who claims the Toronto mayor made remarks on TV that amounted to an accusation of pedophilia against him.

Ford refused to answer questions on Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale’s libel notice, which demands the mayor apologize for and retract what Dale calls a “false insinuation.”

Meanwhile, the mayor’s brother says Ford does not owe Dale an apology.

Coun. Doug Ford says he is “not too sure” what his brother meant in the comments that led to the libel notice but he says the move is “all about the Toronto Star.”

He calls the newspaper a “hurting” company which he claims is using Dale as a “pawn” to draw more readers.

In the interview broadcast Monday, Ford told host Conrad Black that Dale had perpetrated the worst invasion of his privacy during a May 2012 incident when he claimed the reporter was in his backyard, “taking pictures of little kids.”

Ford said “I don’t want to say that word but you start thinking what this guy is all about.”

The mayor said a day after the interview that he stood by “every word.”

Dale has said at no time did he ever take any photographs of the mayor’s family, house or even his property — and a police investigation bore that out.

The libel notice is the first step in the process of suing for defamation. If Ford refuses to apologize and withdraw the comments, Dale said, the mayor would have to be prepared to “repeat his lies under penalty of perjury” in a courtroom.

He said he was taking legal action reluctantly, and only because Ford was repeating lies about what had actually happened.

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