Reporter suing Rob Ford for libel

There’s never a dull moment for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Now he’s facing a libel notice, for making scathing remarks about a Toronto Star reporter during a TV interview with Conrad Black.

Ford said during that interview that Daniel Dale has been in his backyard, taking pictures of his kids, and that he didn’t know what he was all about. Dale says the remarks suggested he was a pedophile.

Dale is also naming Vision TV, which aired the interview, in his suit. The reporter has asked mayor Ford to retract his statement and wants an apology from the specialty channel which has now aired that interview twice.

Ford said after the interview, that he stands by every word he said.

Dale says he was near Ford’s backyard back in May of last year because he was writing a story about a plot of public land near his house that the mayor wanted to buy. He says he was merely looking at the land when Ford came out of his house.

During an interview with 680 News Dale says he was reluctant to sue but feels he had no other choice.

“The Mayor had made it clear that he was going to continue and not going to stop his campaign of lies against me. He not only made a defamatory comment in his interview with Conrad Black, he gave a press conference the next day where he said that he stand by every word. innocently said that he stands by every word, and then went on a Washington, D.C., radio show and repeated many of the same lies.”

“So this wasn’t a one-time thing. It wasn’t something that was going to go away. It was going to be ongoing.”

There’s no word yet from Ford or his lawyer on the libel notice. Vision has said it’s preparing to broadcast a statement, but there’s no idea when that will be or what will be said.