David Soknacki is an enthusiastic campaigner. He’s also keenly aware that he’s not nearly as well known as other candidates for mayor of Toronto.

Canvassing in Riverdale, the former city councillor delivers the same opening line at the door: “Knock, knock. I’m David Soknacki. I’m running for mayor.”

He has even put out an amusing Youtube video featuring citizens’ attempts to pronounce his name. And his campaign has helpfully done a phonetic translation (sock-knack-eee).

After four months of campaigning, Soknacki said he’s slowly getting back to the level of recognition he had when he was a major figure in former mayor David Miller’s administration as chair of budget.

But he was hardly a household name even when he was one of Miller’s lieutenants.

The self-made businessman concedes his public profile is weaker than that of Mayor Rob Ford, former radio host John Tory, former MP Olivia Chow and Karen StintzKaren Stintz, the city councillor who quit as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission in order to run.

“I have never called myself really high profile,” Soknacki told the Star. “Yes, I had it in 2006. Memories fade. But I have found in the past three or four weeks that it is starting to build again.”

If he gets a puzzled look at the door, he holds up a card to his face that contains a photo of him and says, “That’s myself on a good day.”

On the card’s flip side is a brief biography: owner of a successful spice business; former chair of the Downsview Park organization; city council budget chief under David Miller 2003-06; consensus builder.

On his swing through Riverdale last week, some residents he spoke with seemed to recognize him. Whether they did or not, people said they were happy to see candidates coming forward to challenge Ford.

A Riverdale resident who didn’t want his name published said Soknacki and Stintz risk being squeezed out if voters decide to go for the person best placed to defeat the incumbent.

A May 1 poll by Forum Research found that in a five-way race, Olivia Chow is leading with 33 per cent, followed by John Tory at 27 per cent and Ford at 22 per cent. Stintz was supported by 6 per cent and Soknacki trailed at 5 per cent.

“Everybody is looking at this strategically,” the resident said. “Supporters of Rob Ford are saying everybody’s out to get him. People who think Rob Ford needs to be replaced are saying they’ll vote for Chow or Tory — anybody who’ll make sure Ford is replaced.”

Knowing he has a way to go, Soknacki was first out of the starting blocks, outlining many of his priorities if elected mayor shortly after registering in early January as a candidate.

The strategy is the opposite of the frontrunner, who floats above the fray.

Soknacki went on the attack out of the gate just days after registering, slamming Ford’s three-stop Scarborough subway plan. Soknacki said he would go back to the original plan that had the province paying to build and operate a seven-stop light rail transit line to replace the aging Scarborough RT line.

Over the first weeks of his campaign, Soknacki had reinforced his reputation as a policy wonk by vowing to further lower commercial property taxes, reform the outdated business licensing system, and keep the land transfer tax but make it fairer.

At this stage of the 10-month campaign leading to voting day Oct. 27, people don’t seem to hold it against him that Soknacki is relatively obscure and nerdy (he can write in hieroglyphics, for example).

“He’s really analytical, from what I’ve read, and that’s okay,” said Anne Donald, whose home was one of Soknacki’s stops during his Riverdale canvass.

“As long as he can bring people in, collaborate and work with people.”

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Soknacki’s single-digit standing in recent polls isn’t a problem because it’s so early, Donald said.

“A lot can happen between now and October. So if he gets his name out, maybe he’ll come up between Olivia Chow and John Tory.”

Soknacki said he’s finding voters’ main concerns are gridlock and Ford’s performance as mayor.

Floyd Ruskin, of Wolfrey Ave., is one of those voters.

“Rob Ford would not be welcome,” Ruskin said. “I happen to think that to be a vibrant city, there has to be some kind of funding for that vibrant city. If you cut, cut, cut, you cut too much of what makes Toronto great.”

Soknacki, 59, records issues raised by voters in a large notebook he carries. He plans to get back to people with further information on their issues.

“We have to focus,” he said. “If we are to run a traditional campaign, we lose. So what we’re doing, we’re very much targeting groups.”

So, for example, Soknacki recently spent an entire day at a cycling summit because he thinks he can woo cyclists disenchanted with lack of progress on building the city’s bike network.

Young people generally could turn out to be a rich source of support, he said.

At a news conference at Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone, Soknacki pledged to open up access to public information by presenting city data in “citizen-friendly” ways.

While young people are considered less likely to vote in municipal elections, that’s not a problem if the candidate delivers a compelling message, said campaign spokesperson Supriya Dwivedi.

“When you don’t infantilize the youth demographic — which we’re not doing, we’re running a very issues-based campaign — I think people appreciate that,” Dwivedi said.