Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's policard)’s demand that longshot candidate Ari Goldkind be disinvited from a debate Friday prompted a series of cancellations and then reconfirmations that have left the event’s final roster in question.

Organizers of the Inner City Union debate say Ford forced them to disinvite longshot candidate Ari Goldkind by threatening to not attend.

“We were asked by the Doug Ford team to not have him there and if he was going to be there then they would not be there,” said debate organizer Antonius Clarke. “I think it’s wrong . . . Whatever Doug wants, Doug gets. So he has the power.”

News that Goldkind had been disinvited led candidate John Tory to drop out of the event.

“I was disappointed to learn this evening that due to the strong-arm tactics of the Ford campaign Ari Goldkind was disinvited from tomorrow’s debate,” Tory said in an emailed statement Thursday night. “Doug Ford does not get to dictate the rules and disinvite confirmed candidates from debates.”

Tory’s cancellation then spurred a late-night statement from Ford, who said he too would no longer attend if all the top candidates were not participating.

“If John refuses to face his two leading competitors, I will not be participating,” Ford said in a statement.

But just after that statement was sent, Goldkind said he had accepted a renewed invitation to attend as organizers tried to make amends. Following suit, Tory has also rejoined the event’s roster.

Spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said Thursday night Tory’s decision to drop out was always based on Goldkind being disinvited. With his attendance confirmed, Tory will participate, she said.

A tweet sent from Olivia Chow’s account Thursday night said she would participate in the debate “because all of our priority neighbourhoods count.”

Goldkind said organizers emailed him Thursday afternoon to first break the news he’d been uninvited.

“If this is how Mr. Ford chooses to act when he does not have power, imagine how he would act if he had power. What a scary notion,” he said.

Goldkind said he originally accepted an invitation to participate in the debate, focused on the city’s priority neighbourhoods, in September. At the time, only Chow and Tory were confirmed.

Earlier Thursday night, Clarke said they have been trying to get an answer from Ford’s campaign for weeks. He said campaign aide Amin Massoudi called him to give the ultimatum.

Neither Massoudi nor campaign spokesperson Jeff Silverstein immediately returned a request for comment.

Ford vowed not to debate Goldkind after they faced off at a Sunday debate in North York. That debate saw Goldkind criticizing Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's policard) for his anti-Semitic comments and Doug Ford making defensive comments that were largely criticized as stereotyping the Jewish community. The event set off a prolonged back-and-forth between top candidates about who owed who an apology.

Clarke said the Ford campaign has put community organizers in a difficult position. He said a majority of the community wants to hear from Ford.

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“Ari is not a top-polling candidate, but they’re demonstrating that they have a fear for him because they’d rather him not be there then to stand and take some of the truth that he may spit,” Clarke said of Ford’s campaign. “I think Ari is a wonderful candidate. I really thought the community would have benefitted from hearing from him because he has a refreshing platform.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Chow, Tory and Ford faced off at a debate at George Brown.

With only a day’s notice, Ford dropped out of a debate later that evening in Regent Park that included Goldkind, saying he had plans to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener from the square outside the Air Canada Centre.

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