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Mayor Rob Ford on Premier Kathleen Wynne's rejection: She's 'confused'

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TORONTO

And you thought the ice storm was cold.

The relationship between Mayor Rob Ford and Premier Kathleen Wynne got even frostier on Wednesday when the premier flatly refused the mayor’s request to meet about the cost of the ice storm.

And in response, a “disappointed” Ford questioned whether the premier is “confused” about who is the city’s elected mayor before offering to settle for a one-minute phone call.

Ford publicly requested an “urgent” one-on-one meeting with Wynne about the ice-storm costs on Tuesday. City council is asking for $114 million from the province and the federal government to cover two-thirds of the cost of last month’s storm and a major July rain storm.

In response to Ford’s request, Wynne made it clear Wednesday she’ll only deal with Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly because council voted to strip Ford of most of his powers after his crack cocaine scandal erupted.

“She’s just letting the taxpayers of the city down, realistically,” Ford said Wednesday at City Hall. “If she doesn’t want to meet with me that’s her prerogative — I don’t know what she’s thinking.”

The mayor continued to blame politics for the snub.

“The party politics has to be put aside here and it is not, obviously,” Ford said. “She’s a Liberal, Norm’s a Liberal — I don’t care. I’ll meet with (NDP Leader) Andrea Horwath, I’ll meet with (Progressive Conservative Leader) Tim Hudak, I just need numbers for the taxpayers.”

Despite last year’s council vote on his powers, he remains the head of council, Ford said.

“I don’t know if (Wynne) forgot that, I was elected as mayor,” he said. “She said I’m not the head of council but maybe she’s a little confused.”

Asked if he thought Wynne won’t meet with him due to his crack-smoking controversy, Ford shrugged.

“I have no idea ... I don’t know what she’s thinking,” he said.

He also ruled out “going around” Wynne to ask the federal Conservative government directly for funds.

“That’s not the proper procedure, the province has to ask the feds for money,” Ford said. “I’ve talked to (federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty) and he said, ‘No, Rob you have to go through the proper channels.’ And I don’t blame him for saying that.”

Ford said he wanted the answer from Wynne ahead of Friday’s meeting in Mississauga of mayors and regional chairs to discuss the request for funds.

On Wednesday morning, Wynne said her decision to only deal with Kelly is based on council’s decision.

“The city council of Toronto made a decision about the leadership at the city, I have been consistent in my approach which is to meet with the deputy mayor who has the responsibility to be the leader at Toronto city council and that’s what I will continue to do,” Wynne said.

Councillor Adam Vaughan dismissed the notion Wynne should meet with Ford.

“The trouble about meeting with a guy like Ford is that he is going to lie about what he said behind closed doors, he is going to lie about what you said behind closed doors and then he is going to tell more lies to his own political advantage to try and court votes in Toronto — it has nothing to do with actually solving problems,” Vaughan said.

“Why would you want to meet with a guy like that? He’s a waste of time.”

In response to Ford’s speculation about why Wynne won’t meet with him, Councillor Shelley Carroll took to Twitter to offer another explanation.

“Ford says the preem’s mad about his campaigning in (Doug) Holyday’s byelection. Nope. It’s the crack, Rob,” Carroll tweeted.

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