Toronto mayoral debate shuffle: Candidates kicked out, drop out

CTV Toronto: Rivals say Tory has airport conflict John Tory's rivals said the mayoral candidate could be forced to declare conflict of interest on key city matters. Natalie Johnson reports.

The lineup of candidates scheduled to attend a mayoral debate Friday was shuffled several times after a fringe candidate's invitation was revoked then reinstated.

Initially, the event included mayoral candidates Olivia Chow, John Tory, Ari Goldkind and Doug Ford, but shifted a number of times on Thursday as organizers tried to cater to candidates' wishes.

The list of candidates attending a Friday evening debate hosted by the Inner City Union was settled at 11 p.m. Thursday night, with Ford choosing to drop out.

Though Goldkind had been initially invited to the debate focusing on issues with inner city youth, organizers retracted Goldkind's invite on Thursday, reportedly at Ford's request.

Goldkind said Inner City Union representatives sent him an email saying he was no longer invited.

The email, obtained by CP24, said: "Due to (the) intention of the (Inner City Union) to have the leading candidates attend, combined with various requests from their campaign offices we are attempting to meet those requests."

A member of the group said Goldkind was dropped to ensure that Ford would take part. Ford's communication director confirmed that Ford would not be participating in any debate that Goldkind was invited to attend.

Ford vowed not to take part in debates against Goldkind after his opponent criticized Rob Ford at a debate on Sunday for anti-Semitic comments the mayor allegedly made earlier this year. Doug Ford responded with an attempt to identify with the Jewish community, but his comments were criticized as stereotyping the Jewish community.

The comments turned into a prolonged spat between the candidates at Sunday's debate on who should apologize to whom.

Upon hearing Goldkind would not be attending, Tory released a statement saying he would no longer attend the event either.

"I am very disappointed to learn this evening that due to the strong arm tactics of the Ford campaign Ari Goldkind was disinvited from tomorrow's debate," Tory said in the statement released at 8 p.m.

"Doug Ford does not get to dictate the rules and disinvite confirmed candidates from debates. Because of this development I will not be attending this debate."

Shortly after 9:30 p.m., a statement from Ford's campaign said he'd no longer be taking part in the debate, blaming Tory for the decision.

"If John refuses to face his two leading competitors, I will not be participating in tomorrow night's debate. I will be available every day to debate against my two main competitors from now until election night."

About an hour later, Goldkind was re-invited to the event, and Tory confirmed he'd attend as well.

The debate was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the York Woods Library theatre at 1785 Finch Ave. W., just east of Jane Street.