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Mayor Rob Ford rejected calls to recuse himself from police budget deliberations on Tuesday and stuck by accusations that Chief Bill Blair has a political vendetta against him.

“I’ll be voting on the police budget,” he told reporters at city hall. “If you watch Conrad Black’s interview — actually there was two, there was one at 9 o’clock and there was a full hour one at 12 to one. I hope you saw both of them and I stand by every word I said with Mr. Black in my interview.”

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In that interview, Mayor Ford drew a link between a police investigation of him, and past attempts by city hall to curb spending on policing — an assertion the deputy mayor called “dead wrong.”

“The chief, I have an issue with, I think it’s political,” Mr. Ford told Mr. Black. “He wasn’t happy, when I told people to find efficiencies I meant everyone.”

He added: “I want to save money and I guess he disagrees with that.”

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash declined to comment. Chief Blair is expected at city hall on Wednesday where he will face members of the budget committee, including the increasingly hostile Councillor Doug Ford.