Rob Ford is skipping Thursday’s mayoral debate on heritage preservation to attend his $300-per-person fundraiser in his mother’s Etobicoke backyard.

There are still at least 39 debates remaining. This is the first debate Ford has chosen not to attend. Heritage Toronto’s Stacey Rodas said the mayor pulled out on Sunday.

The debate will focus on “matters relating to the conservation and promotion of Toronto's natural, architectural, archaeological and cultural heritage.” Karen Stintz, John Tory, David Soknacki and Olivia Chow will participate.

Ford’s invitation to the fundraiser billed the event as an “intimate and elegant evening” with the mayor, his mother Diane and his brother and campaign manager Doug Ford.

It is Ford’s first known big-ticket fundraiser of the campaign. His stint in rehab scuttled a planned $300-per-person dinner at a Vaughan banquet hall in May.

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