Mayor Rob Ford defended making robocalls to residents in councillor Paul Ainslie’s Scarborough ward Friday night, saying on his weekly radio show that he was simply informing them of the councillor’s voting record and promising more calls to come.

Ainslie said his constituents began receiving calls from the mayor Friday night, just hours after the councillor quit the mayor’s executive committee and three days after a confrontation between the pair over the Scarborough subway extension, which Ainslie voted against.

“I did a robocall on Friday night to inform his constituents, which I truly believe is my responsibility,” Ford said Sunday on the radio show 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. Ainslie said Saturday that he is going to raise the issue with the city’s integrity commissioner and the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

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

“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.

“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.

Ainslie, who could not be reached for comment Sunday, told the Star Saturday that he had hoped for an “amicable” split with the mayor.

“There's a history here. There's a lot of issues that built up to this,” said the mayor on the radio show.

“I would never attack the mayor like that, I would never dream of attacking colleagues like that. For the mayor of the city to be doing it, I nearly fell out of my chair,” said Ainslie on Saturday.

The council code of conduct says “all members of council have a duty to treat members of the public, one another, and staff appropriately and without abuse, bullying or intimidation.”

Mitchell Kosny, a municipal policy expert at Ryerson University, said the robocall tactic brings the tone of council down.

“It doesn't elevate this discussion. Part of the function of leaders, regardless of what perspective he or she comes from, is about building collaboration and trying to work together,” said Kosny.

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