Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is moving forward with his defamation suit against Doug Ford because the councillor's apology failed to meet his requirements.

Ford told reporters at City Hall on Wednesday that he apologized and will "retract all the statements" he had made about Blair.

Blair's defamation notice demanded a full apology and retraction from Ford. But the formal apology and retraction also had to be agreed upon beforehand by Blair and was supposed to be issued in a written statement.

By Wednesday afternoon, Blair had yet to receive any statement, according to his spokesperson Mark Pugash.

The defamation notice relates to Ford's accusation on Aug. 1 that Blair leaked information as "payback" as police were preparing to subpoena Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to testify at the preliminary hearing of accused friend Alexander Lisi.

"When you have the leadership of the police department releasing a subpoena to the media before they release it to the mayor, you wonder why we need a change at the top," Doug Ford told reporters at the time. "It's a little payback..."

Speaking to reporters at City Hall on Wednesday, Ford apologized, saying he'd assumed Blair was the leak because only three or four people knew the information at the time.

"I'm going to take the high road on this, so I want to make a public apology to the chief for any comments. The chief feels I've impugned his reputation, and I will retract all the statements," Ford said.

"I want to make very clear. This isn't about money," Ford said, adding that he was told by his lawyers that he was unlikely to lose the lawsuit, if it went to court.

"I want to move forward with the business of the city."

Ford said he'd personally called the chief earlier in the day and apologized.

Pugash confirmed that Ford and Blair had spoken Wednesday morning, and that Blair had requested a written copy of the apology so it can be passed on to his lawyer. But Pugash said the chief's lawyers had yet to receive it.

When asked about the written apology, Ford said his lawyers were working on one and that it was time to move on.

"Time to bury the hatchet. Let's hang up the gloves. We both have a couple of months left."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson