TORONTO, April 3 (UPI) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who admitted to smoking crack last year, stunned his city council colleagues on Wednesday when he voted against two seemingly uncontroversial proposals.
Ford cast the only "no" vote to a proposal to rename a city street after late civil rights hero Nelson Mandela. In the same session, he voted against a proposal to congratulate Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Ford's apparent opposition to the Mandela street-naming proposal elicited an audible gasp from the council chamber, according to the Globe and Mail.
The mayor said 30 minutes later that he had "voted the wrong way" both times.
"I made a mistake, these guys make a mistake every council [meeting]," he later told reporters.
Some of Ford's colleagues were skeptical.
"If he sees a name moving a motion that he doesn’t like, he votes against it," Councillar Adam Vaughan told CBC. "And then when all hell breaks loose, he lies to cover up his incompetence."
The council later allowed Ford to change his vote.
[Globe and Mail, CBC]
