Toronto City Council Stripping Executive Powers From Mayor Rob Ford Lacking the option of impeachment, Toronto's city council is turning its crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford into an executive with no authority. The Toronto city council voted Friday to strip key executive powers from its embattled mayor, who has defiantly refused to resign despite outrage over his bizarre antics and admission that he smoked crack while in a drunken stupor. After being denied its request earlier this week that Ford voluntarily step down as mayor, the council voted 39-3 Friday to remove the mayor's authority to appoint or remove committee chairs. In a second vote, the council stripped the Ford of all authority in the case of an emergency situation. On Monday, the council will meet to vote on sanctions that the Toronto Star says will render the mayor almost powerless. The votes come at the end of a week in which Ford used profanity while attempting to explain his drunken antics and illegal drug use, then apologized for having used profanity and promised to sue former aides accusing him of all manner of depravity. Ford promised to fight the measures in court, though he added: "I completely understand where they're coming from." "If I would have had a mayor acting the way I've conducted myself I would have done the same thing," he said.