TORONTO — Mayor Rob Ford’s re-election pitch to some of the city’s movers and shakers was nearly derailed Thursday when he almost missed the event, saying he had been stuck in an elevator.
Ford was scheduled to deliver a lunch-hour speech at the Economic Club of Canada — an event that was set to run from noon to 1:30 p.m., but the mayor only made it to the podium shortly before 1:15 p.m.
“I want to thank the Economic Club of Canada for hosting today’s event and getting me stuck in the elevator for 45 minutes,” he told the crowd of roughly 180 business people.
He went on to tout his fiscal record and highlighted what he considers key issues in the fall’s municipal election, including transit and infrastructure.
The president and CEO of the Economic Club of Canada said she was trapped in the same hotel elevator with the mayor.
Rhiannon Traill said the group — which included members of the mayor’s staff as well as hotel employees — took a freight elevator to “avoid all the traffic” in the lobby, where dozens of reporters were waiting for Ford’s arrival.
But she denied it was an attempt to avoid the media.