Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum resigned on Tuesday, a day after he was charged with fraud and corruption in the latest major Canadian municipal scandal. 

"I am going to put my energies into my defense and into my family," said Applebaum, who had promised to clean up Canada's second-largest city when he was named to the post in November. 

Declaring his innocence, he added in a statement to reporters: "This is why I am resigning as mayor of Montreal - it is the responsible thing to do." 

His departure will do little to help the reputation of Quebec, where a two-year public inquiry led by Judge France Charbonneau is unearthing almost daily allegations of contract rigging, kickbacks and fraud going back many years. 

Harout Chitilian, speaker of Montreal's city council, said corruption did not occur overnight. 

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"It's a systemic issue, and we realize from the Charbonneau inquiry that, over the past two decades, perhaps even the past three decades, the system was infiltrated by dark forces," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. 

Applebaum, a former real estate agent, was appointed after predecessor Gérald Tremblay stepped down amid allegations he had ignored corruption and illegal spending by his political party. Tremblay also denies wrongdoing. 

Montreal, a city of 1.7 million, must find another interim mayor ahead of a municipal election due on Nov. 3. 

Further west, in the province of Ontario, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is resisting calls to quit as leader of Canada's largest city after two media outlets said they viewed a video that appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine. 

Ford says he does not use crack cocaine, and Reuters has not been able to verify the existence of the video. 

Applebaum faces 14 charges linked to two real estate deals from 2006 to 2011, when he was mayor in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. 

He is charged with fraud, breach of trust, conspiracy, municipal corruption and secret payments involving tens of thousands of dollars. Police have not said who they suspect handed over the money. 

"I have never taken a penny from anybody ... the accusations against me are unfounded," Applebaum said. 

Michael Nadeau, executive manager of the Institute for Governance of Public and Private Organizations, said the city could struggle to find a qualified interim mayor. 

"This is quite a challenge right now, to attract experienced and competent candidates," he told CBC. 

The mayor of Laval, a Montreal suburb, resigned in 2012, but denied allegations of corruption. Gilles Vaillancourt was arrested last month and charged with gangsterism, fraud and corruption. Laval has since been placed under trusteeship. 

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's two top press aides resigned "on principle" Monday, four days after Ford fired his chief of staff amid a controversy over a video that may or may not exist purportedly showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine.

Ford confirmed the resignations of press secretary George Christopoulos and special assistant Isaac Ransom in a brief statement he sent to reporters Monday.

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Ford didn't address reports by The Toronto Star that its reporters had viewed a video of someone who looks like Ford smoking from a glass pipe.

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The video, whose very existence Ford has vigorously denied, hasn't been made public. An online campaign by Gawker.com to raise money to buy the video — if it exists — showed Monday that it had reached its $200,000 goal.

"It's business as usual, and we have our executive committee tomorrow, and we're soldiering on," Ford said later in brief remarks to reporters outside his office, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Ford also hasn't said why he fired his chief of staff, Mark Towhey, last week. Towhey hasn't said why, either, but Monday on Twitter, he called Christopoulos and Ransom "honest" and "honorable.

Ford, who said Sunday that he will seek re-election next year, has been under siege ever since the Star report a week and a half ago. On his weekly radio show Sunday, Ford called the media "a bunch of maggots."

His brother Doug, a member of the City Council who co-hosts the show, chimed in that  only "80 percent of them are nasty son of a guns."

The mayor apologized Monday, saying it had been "a very stressful week for myself and my family."

Related:

Toronto mayor denies, finally, use of crack cocaine

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, under pressure to respond to allegations he was filmed using drugs, said on Friday that he does not smoke crack cocaine and could not comment on a video he had not seen or does not exist.

"There has been a serious accusation from the Toronto Star that I use crack cocaine. I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine," he told a news conference.

The Toronto Star and Internet gossip blog Gawker reported last week they had separately seen a cellphone video that allegedly shows Ford smoking a substance from a crack pipe while in the company of people involved in the drug trade.

"As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist," said Ford, who did not take questions from reporters.

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His comments mark his first direct response to the allegations since the Star and Gawker stories were published last Thursday. Shortly afterward, he called the reports "ridiculous," but did not give a full statement or denial.

Since the allegations surfaced, he has been hounded by news media at every turn, while several city councilors and allies have encouraged him to confront the issue directly.

The Toronto Sun, a right-leaning newspaper generally considered to be Ford-friendly, published an editorial on Thursday demanding the mayor either strongly deny the allegations or step down from office to seek medical help.

Earlier on Friday, six members of the mayor's executive committee, including Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, published an open letter to the mayor urging him to confront the allegations.

Ford told reporters he had remained quiet on the advice of his solicitor.

The video, which Reuters cannot independently verify, is allegedly being shopped around by people involved in the drug trade. Gawker launched a "Crackstarter" campaign to raise $200,000 to buy it and publish it online.

The controversy, meanwhile, has made headlines across Canada and around the world, and drawn ridicule from late-night TV humorists Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart.

On Wednesday, Ford lost his much-loved job as a volunteer high school football coach, and on Thursday he fired his chief of staff.

This is not the first controversy for Ford, who has drawn criticism for skipping city council meetings to coach football and engaging in a confrontation outside his home with a reporter.

He was briefly ordered out of office in 2012 after being found guilty of a conflict of interest, but won an appeal and was allowed to finish his four-year term.

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TORONTO -- Human remains found in a suitcase floating in Lake Ontario near Toronto this week belonged to a single mother who went missing early last month and whose body parts had been scattered throughout the city, police confirmed Thursday.

Toronto police said a post−mortem examination identified the remains as those of Guang Hua Liu, a 41-year-old former spa owner and mother of three.

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The Toronto Sun reported that the suitcase was discovered floating about 1.6 miles offshore by boaters on Wednesday.

Local resident Blaine Reardon told the Toronto Star he saw two boaters towing the luggage ashore. The newspaper described it as a "large, black, wheeled suitcase." Local media said it contained a human torso.

Liu was reported missing in early August. Hikers saw her foot floating in a river just west of Toronto a few days later. Police then found her head and hands elsewhere.

A subsequent search unearthed more of Guang's body parts in the suburb of Scarborough, in the city's east end.

Estranged boyfriend held
Speaking to the Toronto Sun, Peel Regional Police Constable Fiona Thivierge said: "We are hoping that torso will lead us to understand how she came to die."

Chunqi Jiang, a construction worker and recently estranged boyfriend of the victim, was arrested last week and charged with second-degree murder.

The grisly details of the case have drawn comparisons to the death earlier this year of Jun Lin. The Chinese student's severed hands and feet were mailed to the offices of political parties in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver, while other body parts were found in Montreal.

Luka Magnotta, a small-time Canadian porn actor, has been charged with Lin's murder and has pleaded not guilty.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Canadian police are searching for body parts as well as answers after finding a severed female head in a local river on Thursday, near where hikers found a severed human foot the previous day.

Police said the body parts were believed to be those of an adult but they could not confirm they belonged to the same victim until DNA testing was complete, The Toronto Star newspaper reported. 

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However, "common sense tells us this is most likely related," police spokesman Randy Cowan said. "Without a cause of death we can't call it homicide, but certainly foul play -- there's definitely something amiss."

Hikers found the right foot, which police think belonged to a woman because its toenails were painted with yellow polish, in the Credit River on Thursday in Mississauga, a city of 700,000 people west of Toronto.

Police found the head in Mississauga's Hewick Meadows Park later on Thursday.

"We'll be looking for the entire victim," Cowan said.

Second gruesome discovery
It was the second gruesome set of discoveries in Canada in less than three months. In June, body parts were mailed to schools and political parties, prompting an international manhunt for the suspect.

Fugitive Canadian porn actor found in Berlin reading about self

Police said the body parts, along with a decapitated head found in a Montreal park in July, belonged to Chinese student Jun Lin, allegedly dismembered by porn actor Luka Magnotta.

Magnotta was arrested in an airport in Berlin and deported to Canada. He is accused of killing, dismembering and cannibalizing Lin -- believed to have been his lover.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Two people have died and at least 19 others were wounded in a shooting at a block party in the eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough Monday night, according to Canadian media reports.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair told CBC that a teenage girl and a man aged about 20 had been killed in the violence shortly before 11 p.m. ET Monday.

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An infant was also wounded in the shooting, he told CBC, although the child's injuries were not life threatening.

"I've been a cop for 35 years, this is the worst incidence of gun violence in my memory anywhere in North America," Blair said.

A report in the Globe and Mail said police had a person in custody, and that the shooting appeared to be a dispute.

More photos: Shooting raises fears of rise in Toronto gun crime

Leighton Robinson, a man who said he knew someone injured at the scene, told the newspaper the event was a typical block party.

"It's got to stop, there's no need for it," he said.

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A stage collapse at Toronto's Downsview Park killed one person and injured at least three others setting up for a Radiohead concert, the CBC reported, citing emergency responders.

One person was transported to Sunnybrook Hospital in serious condition while two others were being assessed at the scene, CBC said.

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Downsview Park tweeted that the concert was canceled. Show promoter Live Nation Entertainment also announced the show was canceled.

The collapse occurred at 4 p.m. ET, about an hour before venue gates were scheduled to open.

The man who was killed was briefly pinned under the scaffolding and succumbed to a "crushing injury," an official with Toronto Fire Services told CP24.

"From what I understand the piping which makes up the roof structure where lights and what not are supported collapsed down and there was workers setting up the stage at the time," Toronto Fire Services Captain Mike Strapko told broadcaster CP24.

"The big question is how and that is something we will be working closely with the Ministry of Labor on," Constable Tony Vella told reporters at the scene Saturday night.

Radiohead was scheduled to take the stage a little after 9:30 p.m., CP24 said.

The Weather Channel reported mostly sunny conditions with moderate winds of 5 to 10 mph ahead of the collapse.

Police said a considerable crowd was already waiting for the show when the stage collapsed, CBC reported.

One witness said he "saw the scaffolding around the stage collapsing in on itself and heard the sound of metal hitting metal and within five seconds it was over," CP24 reported.

The park frequently hosts concerts, and 40,000 people were expected for Radiohead's sold-out show, CBC said. The opener was to be Canadian act Caribou.

Radiohead fans expressed dismay on the British modern rock band’s message board.

“So many people lose in this,” said one post by a person calling herself Miss Modular.

“Oh no Person who died today won't get his/her life back,” said a post by spoll.

On Aug. 13, 2011, the Indiana State Fair stage fell, killing seven in a crowd awaiting a Sugarland concert when a windstorm blew in.

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A suspect has been arrested over the shooting at a downtown Toronto shopping mall that left one man dead and at least six others wounded on the weekend, police said on Monday.

The man handed himself in to police in the early hours, Canada's CTV reported.

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Police said on Sunday they believed they knew the identity of the shooter and said the victim, 24-year-old Toronto resident Ahmed Hassan, may have had some gang affiliation.

The shooting occurred Saturday evening at the Eaton Centre, one of Toronto's top tourist destinations. It shocked Canada's largest city, which has a reputation as one of the safest in North America.

CTV said the injured included a 13-year-old boy who suffered a gunshot wound to the head. He was listed in critical but stable condition at the Hospital For Sick Children, it said.

Another 23-year-old man was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds to the neck and chest, CTV added.

Toronto police confirmed Monday’s arrest on Twitter but declined to provide further details. A spokeswoman said a news conference would be held at 2 p.m. ET.

1 dead, 7 hurt in shooting at downtown Toronto mall

“Our investigation clearly suggests that this is a targeted shooting and not a random act of violence against the members of the general public," Brian Borg, a Toronto police detective, said in a media briefing on Sunday.

"Whether this is a gang-motivated shooting has not been definitively determined. But I can say it is being closely looked at given that at least one of the victims has known gang associations."

The incident revived memories of another shooting close to Eaton Centre on Dec. 26, 2005, when a 15-year-old girl was killed and several other people were wounded. That shooting was also believed to be gang-related.

Canada has stringent controls on handguns and a lower rate of gun-related violence than the United States. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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One person was killed and seven others were injured Saturday evening at a shopping mall shooting in the heart of downtown Toronto, officials said.

Toronto police Constable Victor Kwong said an interior search of the two-block-long mall ended with the shooter still at-large, CP24 television reported.

One victim, a 25-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene; two victims, a man in his 20s and a 13-year-old boy, were in critical condition, Kwong said. Two women and a man were seriously wounded and one woman was grazed by a bullet.

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 A 30-year-old pregnant woman injured during the rush out of the mall went into labor, CP24 reported.

Police Chief Bill Blair said at a news conference that bystanders hit by gunfire were in the "general vicinity" of a targeted victim, CP24 reported. The 13-year-old boy was a "totally innocent bystander," he said.

Police, firefighters and paramedics swarmed Eaton Centre after reports emerged of a shooting at 6:23 p.m. near the food court, CTV television reported.

Video from the scene showed paramedics attending to what appeared to be a victim inside the mall. Paramedics were also seen rushing a male on a stretcher into an ambulance.

The 280-store mall was shut and evacuated, CTV reported.

Police sealed off several surrounding intersections.

Photos from the scene showed shoppers flooding out of the mall into the downtown streets, which are among the busiest in Canada's largest city.

Blue Jays player sprints away as shots fired

CP24 television reporter Jackie Crandles said she heard police and security "running around the mall yelling at people to get out of the mall, that the shooter was still inside, and that unless they wanted to get shot, they should leave."

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie tweeted that he was "pretty sure someone just let off a round (of) bullets in eaton center mall" and that he "just sprinted out of the mall."

Ujjawal Patel, 28, told The Globe and Mail newspaper he was inside the Eaton Centre when he heard 12 to 15 shots ring out. He quickly fled, he said.

"I was so scared," Patel told the newspaper. "If it can happen in the Eaton Centre, it can happen anywhere."

Marcus Neves-Polonio, a 19-year-old food court busser, told The Globe and Mail he was walking when a man started firing near the Big Smoke Burger.

Neves-Polonio said he saw one person shot in the chest and two people on the ground. He ducked under a table.

"I just hoped he wouldn't go in my direction," he told the newspaper. 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford visited the scene and offered condolences to shooting victims and their families and vowed to support victims and police, CTV reported.

"This incident is absolutely terrible," Ford said, according to CP24. "We want to apprehend the shooter as fast as possible."

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