A former Toronto mayoral candidate says Mayor Rob Ford touched her inappropriately and made a suggestive comment to her at a public event on Thursday night — an accusation bluntly denied by the mayor's office.
Women's Post publisher Sarah Thomson, who withdrew about a month before the 2010 election that sent Ford to the mayor's chair, posted to Facebook a photo of the two of them standing together at a Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee meeting.
"Thought it was a friendly hello to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford at the CJPAC Action Party tonight until he suggested I should have been in Florida with him last week because his wife wasn't there," she wrote early Friday morning. "Seriously wanted to punch him in the face. Happy International Women's Day!"
Sarah Thomson posted this photo to Facebook along with allegations of inappropriate behaviour, prompting hundreds of comments. Reached by CBC News on Friday morning, Thomson said when the mayor made the comment about his wife and Florida, she shrugged it off. "Maybe he was treating me like one of the boys or whatever.
"And then we got our picture taken together, and he grabbed my ass, and at that point I said, OK, this is unacceptable."
In the subsequent Facebook comments thread, which had 358 comments by 8:35 a.m. ET, Thomson said: "Guess where his hand was in this picture? I must go shower."
Thomson also wrote twice that the mayor was "out of it."
Mayor's office denies wrongdoing
"I've never seen him so out of it," she wrote. "I know I shouldn't be pissed, but after spending 10 months on the campaign trail together you expect a little bit of respect at the very least for my husband."
George Christopoulos, the mayor's press secretary, denied any wrongdoing on Ford's part.
"The mayor is disgusted and tired with people making ridiculous accusations about him," he said. "There were three staffers in close proximity to the conversation, and none of them heard these comments."
Thomson said she walked up to some of the people with the mayor and told them, "Get him out of here. He's obviously not his normal self."
Ford was still at the event when she left, Thomson said.
She said she was shocked by Ford's behaviour, because she believed they had a sense of mutual respect after spending time on the campaign trail. She is also head of the Toronto Transit Alliance, a group of Toronto region business leaders pushing city hall for transit expansion.
'Complete lack of respect'
"Like I've always said, I don't hate the guy," she said. "And at times when there's been real issues, I've stood up for him. So for him to turn around and do that to me, it was just so offensive and [a] sign of complete lack of respect."
Thomson said there "was something wrong with" the mayor, though she didn't know what it was.
"He wasn't slurring his words, so he didn't seem drunk, but he was not his usual self."
She said she has no intention of pursuing legal action.
"Rob has had a lot of lawsuits as it is," Thomson said. "We don't need that for the city."
Thomson said Ford has "personal problems, and he has to deal with them." She said he should "get help."
The long comments thread under the photo includes comments of support, while others accuse her of political opportunism or taking the wrong approach by speaking out through social media.
"Wow. You are crazy to make these allegations on FB," a comment from the Facebook account Pam Chalk Hansen wrote. "If this were really true, it should be dealt with privately. It makes your accusations questionable, because you have handled it in such an immature way. Are you looking to be sued for slander??!!"
Thomson said she felt the need to speak out, because she "grew up in a time where you never say anything. And I started the Women's Post magazine, because I wanted to see change, and I don't believe that we should just shut up and not say anything.
"Obviously he's not in his right self, and he has issues that he needs to deal with, but for the mayor of the city to be treating someone like me that way, it's so wrong on so many levels. And if he treats me that way and I don't say anything, he could treat someone else that way. It may make me look bad in some way, but I really believe that you have to stand up for what's right."
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