With just over a month to go until the municipal election, Toronto mayoral frontrunner John Tory says he will decide on a “case-by-case basis” whether to attend any of the remaining debates if they do not include both Olivia Chow and Doug Ford.

A statement from the Tory campaign late yesterday says “the unexplained absence of Doug Ford from most of these debates raises questions about the productiveness of these discussions.”

Ford did not attend yesterday’s debates, but he did hold a news conference to mock John Tory’s lack of experience at City Hall.  “I’m willing to take John Tory down to city hall and show him how we get things done. In fact folks, I’m going to designate September 26th as Take John Tory to Work Day.”

Tory responded by joking, “Doug Ford went to charm school and I would just say it’s not working and he should get his money back.”

Tory, Chow and Ford debated for the first time on Tuesday night.  The Tory camp says Ford’s absence at other debates “gives him an immense advantage, especially considering the election is less than five weeks away.”  The statement goes on to explain that “debate preparation and the events themselves requires the diversion of significant time and resources from other campaign priorities.”

All three main candidates have confirmed attendance for the mayoral debate here at the ZoomerPlex October 10th hosted by The New AM 740’s Dale Goldhawk.