Rob Ford says he will skip the Pride parade this summer for the third consecutive time since he was elected mayor of Toronto.

Ford has faced criticism from even conservative allies for repeatedly refusing to attend one of the city's marquee celebrations. But he said Saturday that he will miss the parade again this year if it falls on the Canada Day weekend he usually spends at his family’s cottage in Muskoka. It does.

Asked by KISS 92.5 FM radio’s Maurie Sherman on Saturday whether he would, “for the love of God,” go to Pride this year, Ford laughed and said, “All depends – like I’ve always said, if it lands on the same weekend when I take my family up north, unfortunately, my family comes first. And I’ve seen very little of my family right now.”

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Ford, a conservative and an opponent of same-sex marriage, made several inflammatory comments about the city’s gay community as a city councillor. He called it “disgusting” that council awarded a grant to a group making a video about coming out, said only drug users and gay people get AIDS, and once wondered aloud whether transgender means “a guy dressed up like a girl or a girl dressed up like a guy.” He was denounced again in May for appearing to use an anti-gay slur to describe Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in the video that appears to show him smoking crack cocaine.

Pride executive director Kevin Beaulieu said Ford’s absence from the parade “has now become expected” but remains “unfortunate.”

“The mayor of the city should want to be at Pride,” Beaulieu said.

“It’s a chance to connect with our communities in a very meaningful way. It's important, particularly when there are some questions about what he may or may not have said in the past. It’s important that he show our community that he is supportive, and Pride is an excellent way to do that.”

The three Toronto mayors before Ford – left-leaning Barbara Hall, right-leaning Mel Lastman, and left-leaning David Miller – all marched in the parade. The mayor had marched every year since 1995 before Ford declined in 2011.

Kristyn Wong-Tam, Toronto’s only openly gay councillor, said in a text message: “No surprises from our very predictable mayor. Everyone is welcome to celebrate the gay liberation human rights movement with us at Pride, even Mayor Ford. Of course, this offer would be rescinded if it was proven true that he uses homophobic and racist language or if he tried to defund the festival.”

The Pride festival begins on June 21. The parade will be held on Sunday, June 30. Its annual city grant, about $124,000 last year, will be debated at council June 11 or June 12.

In the radio interview, Ford noted that he attended the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia flag-raising ceremony at city hall on May 17. He said he has “no problem raising the Pride flag” as well, although he skipped the Pride flag-raising, and every other event in the 10-day festival, in both 2011 and 2012.

“If it falls on the day that I’m going up, the weekend I’m going up to the cottage, unfortunately, my family comes first,” Ford repeated. “We’ve had a tradition of going away every Canada Day. And that tradition’s not going to be broken.”

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Ford did break the tradition at least once in recent years: during the 2010 election campaign, when he either skipped the cottage trip or came back early to march in a Canada Day parade in East York.