Calling the mayor a “bully and a liar,” Councillor Paul Ainslie denounced Rob Ford for making robocalls to his constituents Friday night after he voted against a Scarborough subway extension.

The robocalls, which went out to residents in Ainslie’s Scarborough ward, said Ainslie “led the charge against building subways in Scarborough.”

Ainslie said that is not true, saying he supports subways – and voted for one at council two-and-a-half months ago – but opposed the current plan out of fiscal prudence.

“It was for a subway that guarantees a tax hike, is not transparent, and does not disclose the full extent of the financial commitments we’re making,” Ainslie said at a press conference on Tuesday morning

The calls came mere hours after Ainslie quit the mayor’s executive committee.

“He’s just using his bully pulpit to find a scapegoat for his own failings,” Ainslie said.

Speaking on his radio show Sunday, Ford defended the calls.

“I did a robocall on Friday night to inform his constituents, which I truly believe is my responsibility,” Ford said on the show which he co-hosts with his brother, councillor Doug Ford. “I guarantee it won’t be the last robocall. We're going to tell everybody how their councillor voted.”

Ford said the calls cost “a few hundred dollars” and that he pays for them out of his own pocket.

Both Ford brothers said the call was strictly to inform residents, with Doug Ford saying it should be “standard operating procedure.”

Ainslie said the mayor violated city hall’s members code of conduct, and he will be turning to the city’s integrity commissioner and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to investigate the calls.

“It was a blatant act of political thuggery,” he said.

The calls – which Ainslie said some of his residents considered slanderous – are evidence of “American-style politics,” Ainslie said, adding that they have no place in Toronto municipal politics.

“This was not personal. I never said anything negative about him,” said the mayor on the radio show.

The calls began by lauding the subway extension plan, then discussed Ainslie.

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“It was extremely, extremely unfortunate that your councillor, Paul Ainslie, was the only Scarborough councillor who did not listen to his constituents, and voted against the Scarborough subway. In fact, he led the charge against building subways in Scarborough; unfortunately it has led to his resignation from my executive committee. We are moving forward with a team who support the mandate Toronto taxpayers gave me,” said the call, according to a recording obtained by the Star.

With files from Tim Alamenciak

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