Olivia Chow’s first television ad is centred on her fiery response to a racially charged question from a debate attendee.

Chow took umbrage two weeks ago at a meandering question from a man who made reference to her “immigrant background,” falsely said she had lived for free as an adult in social housing, and appeared to suggest she had taken advantage of the “public purse” rather than contributing to Canadian society.

Her impassioned rebuttal, in which she rejected the premise of the question and declared herself a true Canadian and a proud Torontonian, was greeted with wide acclaim, some of it from supporters who had urged her to be looser and more spirited as she dropped in the polls over the summer.

Chow now sits a distant third. Her campaign has spent “six figures” on the ad purchase, spokesman Jamey Heath said Tuesday. The ad will begin airing Wednesday on CTV, CP24 and Citytv.

Its tagline is, “She’ll fight for a better Toronto. She’ll fight for you.”

The ad skips the question itself and the beginning of Chow’s answer. It shows her saying: “I believe that everyone counts. No matter where we came from, what colour of our skin, what background, what income level, what neighbourhood we came from, it doesn’t matter.”

Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's policard) held a news conference Tuesday morning to announce he was releasing a television ad that cheekily quotes a compliment John Tory gave him in 2010. Tory, the frontrunner, has been running upbeat television ads in which he speaks directly to the camera about his “smart” and “doable” SmartTrack surface rail line, which he says will get residents to home and work faster.

Chow has devoted most of her recent media appearances to criticism of Tory. Her last two major ads, the new TV spot and a previous YouTube video, have attempted to remind voters of her values.

“To challenge me as not a Torontonian or not a Canadian gets to the core of who I am,” she said Tuesday.

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