[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Toronto’s City Council has Monday evening voted to strip scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford of many of his powers after a heated debate where he knocked over a woman councilor.

The council voted overwhelming in a series of votes on Monday to cut his office budget by 60 percent and allow mayoral staff to join the deputy mayor. Ford now effectively has no legislative power as he would no longer chair the executive committee.

Addressing the Council following the vote, Mayor Ford declared war, saying that they had acted like Saddam Hussein attacking Kuwait in 1991.

“This, folks, reminds me of when, when I was watching with my brother, when Saddam attacked Kuwait,” said Mayor Ford. “And President Bush said, ‘I warn you, I warn you, I warn you, do not.’”

“Well, folks, if you think American-style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked Kuwait. Mark my words friends, this is going to be outright war in the next election.”

“What you’re doing to me is kicking me out of my office, and it’s the worst thing you can do,” Ford concluded. “And it is absolutely the worst thing you can do for democracy and the city of Toronto. What goes around comes around, friends.”

Photo: Peter J. Thompson/National Post

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)