Olivia Chow and Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's policard) say they will reveal their campaign contributors before the election. John Tory won’t say either way.

Chow’s spokesman, Jamey Heath, said she will release her donor list on Wednesday, five days prior to the Oct. 27 vote. Ford did not provide a specific date, but he said he would release his list too. Tory's campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The law only requires candidates to disclose donors’ names five months after election day. In the last three Toronto mayoral elections, though, almost every top candidate has voluntarily announced the names during the campaign as a demonstration of transparency.

Tory did so himself, in the 2003 election, and Ford’s brother Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's policard) did it in the 2010 election. David Miller and Jane Pitfield did it in 2006. In 2010, George Smitherman was criticized sharply — by Rob Ford among others — for declining to carry on the new tradition.

Heath said the need for transparency about election donors was demonstrated by the MFP computer leasing scandal, which involved cozy relationships between lobbyists and city officials.

“Releasing donor lists during campaigns is an important part of improving democracy,” Heath said, speaking before Ford said he would join Chow. “And I would note that it’s not just donor lists that we have been transparent about. It is the specific costing of the platform. It speaks volumes that both Doug Ford and John Tory have refused to release platforms and now refuse to release donors. What are they hiding?”

Ford also challenged Tory.

"What I would like to see: I'd love to see John Tory's list," he said after a debate on Friday night. "He'd have every political insider, every shooter in the entire country donating to this guy's campaign. And I'd love to do it. As a matter of a fact, I think we should mandate it somehow, that before the election happens, you release all your donors, like we did last time, and let's see who's supporting who."

Rob Ford promised in 2010 to ask the province to make pre-election disclosure mandatory if he was elected. He took no action while in office.

Candidates have traditionally released their donor lists with around a week to go. Candidate David Soknacki released his list just before he dropped out of the race in September.

Corporate and union donations are banned in Toronto municipal elections. Individuals can donate a maximum of $2,500 to any mayoral candidate and a total of $5,000 to all mayoral and councillor candidates.

Doug Ford’s campaign-finance situation is highly unusual: he took over for Rob Ford eight months into the 10-month campaign period. Doug Ford’s campaign is a separate legal entity from Rob Ford’s defunct campaign, and Doug Ford is not allowed to spend donations made to Rob Ford.

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