Two ads funded by Doug Ford's election campaign are seeking to turn voters' attention to his rival's past failures.
The ads, which started airing on Toronto radio stations on Tuesday morning, call attention to John Tory's past ballot-box defeats and describe the mayoral candidate's transit plan as "shaky."
Both ads use the tagline: "What's the story, Mr. Tory?"
One of the ads targets Tory's SmartTrack transit plan, calling Tory's plan to fund a major subway expansion unrealistic.
The second points out that Tory ran in the 2003 mayoral election and lost to David Miller by approximately 36,000 votes. Tory also lost to the Liberals as the head of the Ontario PC Party in the 2007 provincial election, the ad reminds voters. He also ran in a byelection in 2009, but lost to a Liberal candidate.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ford told reporters his ads were "above the belt." He said Tory had called him a bully and a chicken.
"That is John Tory's DNA. He gets personal," Ford said.
Tory called Ford a "bully" last week after Ford held a news conference at his Etobicoke headquarters and declared Sept. 26 "Take John Tory to Work Day."
In response to the ads, Tory told reporters that he was not planning to retaliate by running attack ads against any of his opponents.
"I just think that people are in the mood for a positive message, and that is the kind of one that I'm putting out there," Tory said Tuesday afternoon.
