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Thanks to Carol Wilding, President of the @TorontoRBOT for taking the time to personally invite me to tonight's event pic.twitter.com/KnR9k8l0Nl — Ford Family (@TorontoRobFord) January 28, 2014

Brownrigg said the letter was sent unintentionally, that the mayor never RSVP’d and that he left a voicemail at the mayor’s office informing him that he was not invited.

When the mayor arrived at the ballroom dinner for more than 1,300 guests at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, he was greeted with several glaring suggestions that he was not welcome.

The dinner brochure featured Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly — who assumed many of Ford’s powers in November — and Ford could not be found on any seating charts for the event.

“When I got to the door, they didn’t have my name anywhere. It was something else,” Ford told the Toronto Sun. “I saw the deputy mayor’s name there.”

Board president and CEO Carol Wilding gave a speech that tore into the mayor, yet never named him directly, blaming “distractions” in political leadership in Toronto.

Wilding called on leaders to unite residents.

“But regrettably, we were, and remain, preoccupied with the question of leadership within the Region. And talk on the street is all about perception,” she said.

The perception is that the region took a step backward in 2013, she said, with too many distractions, “all of which you are familiar with.”

Councillor Doug Ford defended his brother Tuesday and said Wilding is playing a “political game.”

“What the Board of Trade should be doing is working with all politicians. Carol Wilding decided not to. She’s turning this into a little political game of hers,” said Councillor Ford, who suggested board of trade members should review her leadership.