Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's policard) said Sunday he will spend about a half-million dollars in his pursuit of becoming mayor of Toronto.

Ford also said he has raised $300,000 from individual donors since joining the race six weeks ago when his brother, Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's policard), called off his run for a second term as mayor after being diagnosed with cancer.

Ford held a news conference at his campaign headquarters Sunday morning and released his donor list to members of the media.

“I have been truly humbled by the amount of support I am receiving from the good people of our city,” Ford said. “Hard-working Toronto residents are giving what they can to support my message. $10 . . . $20 . . . $50 . . . ”

Ford says overall, his campaign will spend “well under $800,000.”

He said he is kicking in about $500,000 because he believes in the city and the “common people and the little guy that doesn’t have a voice.”

Ford says he has a couple of $2,500 donors, which is the maximum donation a mayoralty candidate can accept, but there will be no comparison to Tory’s list of donations from “the who’s who of Canada.”

“I believe that we have to move forward, we can’t get the establishment (get back in to power), we can’t start up the gravy train, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we continue with the prosperity . . . and that’s the reason I put my own money in.”

While details of campaign spending do not have to be released until five months after the election, Olivia Chow has already released her donor list, showing she had raised $1.76 million as of Oct. 21. Tory released his on Saturday. The Tory campaign said it received more than 5,000 donations totaling $2.48 million.

Amin Massoudi, a campaign spokesman, said campaign funds are being used to buy television and radio advertising, campaign literature, and to pay overhead, including staff salaries and the rental of the campaign headquarters in Etobicoke and a satellite office in Scarborough. In addition, the campaign has rented a large, red-white-and-blue RV plastered with slogans and Ford’s face.

Mayoral campaigns are allowed to spend approximately $1.3 million before election day. A candidate and his or her spouse could conceivably cover the entire amount, though family members would be limited to contributing no more than $2,500 each.

David Soknacki spent about $300,000 in the nine months before he dropped out of the race for mayor.

“I think we’re running a very different kind of campaign,” Massoudi said. “We have a lot of manpower, its very grassroots and there’s a lot of support on the ground that we’re utilizing, complementing that with some technology, media advertising.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Rob Ford is seeking to return to city hall as a councillor in Etobicoke North, the ward he held for a decade before Doug Ford replaced him in 2010.

With files from Daniel Dale

Read more about: