Toronto mayor to take leave after new video report

TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is taking a leave of absence to seek help for alcohol after a report surfaced about a second video of him apparently smoking crack cocaine, but he is not abandoning hopes of seeking a second term as mayor of Canada's largest city.

One of his campaign rivals and other Toronto politicians demanded he resign. But in a statement Wednesday, Ford said he would take leave for an unspecified amount of time from both his mayoral post and his campaign for re-election.

"I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time," Ford said in statement late Wednesday. "I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help and I am now 100 percent committed to getting myself right."

The Globe and Mail newspaper said it has viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine in his sister's basement. The national newspaper said two Globe reporters viewed the video from a self-professed drug dealer showing Ford taking a drag from a pipe early Saturday morning.

The video is part "of a package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed around 1:15 a.m., and which he says he is now selling for 'at least six figures,'" the paper reported.

Ford did not address the reported video or make any reference to crack cocaine in his statement.