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All told, the platforms of the four candidates — Cheng, Paul Paolatto, Ed Holder and Tanya Park — run to 18 planks.

But of all those platform planks, only six include the kind of spelled-out details or numbers many people look for to hold politicians to account for their promises.

Take economic development, for example. All four candidates pledge to woo skilled workers and create an attractive environment for business, but only Paolatto has a number attached. He vows to bring $5 billion in new investment to London over a four-year mayoral term.

The main rivals for the mayor’s office also have platform promises to help London’s most vulnerable — people with mental health, addiction and housing challenges. But most are cast in fluffy language, not specific plans.

Ex-politician Gord Hume calls the platforms “slogans, not policy.”

Voters have to demand substance from their candidates, he said. And it’s not too early to start; advance polls open in less than three weeks.

“When you put specific targets in, you’re held accountable for that. That’s why a lot of platforms will be fuzzier on the details,” said Hume, who served four terms on city council, including on its powerful but now-gone board of control.

“You don’t have to say ‘on April 14 I am going to bring a motion.’ But if you’re going to say, ‘I want to improve the roads,’ tell me how you are going to do that,” said Hume, who in political afterlife has written books on municipal governance and political leadership.