A former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP says Olivia Chow proved herself to be a "major league biatch" during a Toronto mayoral debate on Tuesday.

But Chow's campaign says Peter Shurman's remarks point to a double-standard that can occur when women run for office.

Shurman, a former PC finance critic who resigned last December amid an expense controversy, was a guest on Newstalk 1010's "Moore In The Morning" show on Wednesday.

Shurman joined National Post columnist Christie Blatchford on a panel discussing a raucous debate in Scarborough the night before in which mayoral frontrunners Chow, Rob Ford and John Tory had a number of heated exchanges.

The segment opened with a clip of Tory going after Rob Ford over cost overruns on city projects that have occurred under his watch.

"We know what you were doing and it wasn't managing taxpayers' money," Tory is heard yelling.

Moore wondered if Tory was attempting to shed the perception that he is "too nice" to be mayor.

Shurman, who was a member of Tory's caucus when he was leader of the Ontario PCs, suggested Tory's more aggressive tone will help him win in October. "We're seeing the tip of the iceberg that’s going to unfold," he said.

Shurman said Karen Stintz and David Soknaki can’t win and that the race is now between Tory and Ford — a curious conclusion when one considers virtually every poll has Chow either leading or near the top of the heap.

"Olivia is a continuation of (former Toronto mayor David) Miller and she proved herself to be, last night, pardon me, a major league biatch and not worthy of listening to, as far as I'm concerned," he said.

You can listen to the full show below. The discussion on the Toronto debate begins at around the 19:20 mark: