Toronto Mayor Rob Ford arrives for a meeting with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Wednesday August 17, 2011. Ford called 911 after being ambushed by a crew with CBC's "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."The crew showed up at Ford's home early Monday to film a segment for Tuesday’s episode and caught him coming out of the house with his daughter.
Rob Ford's office produced several documents on Monday to justify the high price it pays for business cards printed by the mayor's family printing business.
Office expenses filed on Friday showed that Mr. Ford's office paid Deco Label & Tags $1,579.15 for 20,600 business cards, or seven cents for the first 15,000 and six cents for each additional card.
That's considerably more than the city's charge for a standard card, which runs about 3.5 cents.
But the mayor prefers something fancier than the standard blue-and-white slip. Mr. Ford's card features a City of Toronto logo stamped in gold-coloured foil and a city ward map on the back.
To prove it had searched for a better deal on the cards, Mr. Ford's office produced quotes from two rival printing companies. One bid comes out to roughly 20 cents a card; the other 15 cents. While the names of the companies were redacted, one bidder added a note of regard for Mr. Ford. "Give our regards to Mayor Ford," it reads. "We truly believe he is doing a great job!"
According to the city's expense policy, members of council are not required to tender bids for purchases under $3,000.
Adrienne Batra, the mayor's press secretary, said Mr. Ford will pay for the cards out of his own pocket.
"He has no intention of letting the taxpayers of Toronto pay for this expense," she said.
Patrick White