TORONTO, Cananda – In a statement released on Wednesday night, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has retracted statements he made about Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale.

Dale responded on Twitter, saying he won’t be proceeding with a defamation lawsuit against Ford.

The reporter says he appreciates Ford’s “complete retraction and unqualified apology,” and he’s glad the truth is no longer in dispute.

Dale served Ford last week with a libel notice, demanding he retract all of his false claims about what happened during an incident near Ford’s house in May 2012 and issue an “unreserved, abject, complete apology.”

In relating the incident, Ford had often said Dale was in his backyard taking pictures, claims he has now retracted.

Dale says he won’t be taking legal action against the mayor, and is looking forward to getting back to work.

Dale has said he was writing a story about a plot of public land adjacent to Ford’s house that the mayor wanted to buy, so he went to take a look when the mayor emerged from his home to confront him.

The reporter has said that at no time was he on the mayor’s property nor did he take any pictures.