MISSISSAUGA — Mississauga mayoral candidate Steve Mahoney says the campaign hasn’t been overly nasty so far and he’s hoping it stays that way.

Last week, Mahoney drafted and signed what he’s calling the ‘Mississauga fair campaign pledge’. It’s a list of seven points he hopes will keep the campaigning aboveboard.

“As candidates, we need to deal with the issues,” said Mahoney. “The focus should be on these issues and we shouldn’t get (drawn) into some of the negative politics you see in Toronto or the United States. It’s a pledge to stay on the high road.”

Some of the points in the pledge include “not engaging in, permitting or condoning personal attacks upon the character of…opponents nor engaging in invasions of personal privacy” and “treating…opponents with courtesy and civility even when (they) disagree about what is best for Mississauga’s future.”

So far, the pledge hasn’t exactly been embraced by the other candidates.

“I have always run fair campaigns based on integrity and issues and I don’t believe I need to make a pledge to continue to do this,” said mayoral candidate and Ward 5 Councillor Bonnie Crombie. “The question I have is what issues does my opponent fear may be raised during this campaign that he has asked for this pledge? I have a public record of working tirelessly and delivering results for our community and I stand behind my record. I don’t need a fairness pledge to protect me from scrutiny.”

Meanwhile, Mahoney said he’s hearing from residents that they don’t want to see a vicious and nasty campaign to replace outgoing Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion. He said there’s been some unscrupulous stuff going on, mostly on social media, but not a lot so far.

Mayoral candidate Kevin Johnston said he has no plans to sign the pledge in its current form. He suggested some amendments to the pledge, a number of which are a little cheeky such as the request that “all mayoral candidates will have the same number of words printed about them in all newspapers that…Mahoney appears in.

“By the wording of the document it’s obvious that (Mahoney) is concerned about a number of mistakes he's made in the past coming back to bite him now,” said Johnston. “Otherwise a fair campaign pledge would have truly been written to be fair for all mayoral candidates.”

Another mayoral candidate, Stephen King, said he doesn’t feel the pledge is necessary.