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As Toronto Mayor Rob Ford kicks off re-election campaign, rival Olivia Chow releases first attack ad

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford talks on the phone during an executive committee meeting in Toronto, December 5, 2013. REUTERS/Aaron Harris (CANADA - Tags: POLITICS)

Toronto's municipal election is still six months away and it's already spawned its first attack ad against infamous incumbent Mayor Rob Ford.

The campaign for Olivia Chow, the former New Democrat MP who's seen as the front-runner to unseat Ford, released the ad this week attacking one of the keystone elements of his popularity, the belief he's in personal touch with citizens and their concerns.

Ford, who formally launched his re-election bid Thursday night, likes to boast that he spends much of his time on the phone dealing with people's complaints.

But in the minute-long video, a woman identified only as Laura claims Ford never returned any of the roughly 20 calls she's made to the mayor's office to complain about the city's transit service.

“Rob Ford is always bragging that he’s too busy to do this or he’s too busy to do that because he’s calling people back. Well, he didn’t call me back,” Laura says in the video.

"I have Rob Ford programmed into my phone and he's never called me back."

[ Related: Rob Ford launches re-election bid: 'I won't back down' ]

City Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor's brother and re-election campaign manager, told the National Post the ad is "disingenuous" and "not accurate."

“He returns more phone calls than any politician in the country . . . no one even comes close,” Doug Ford told the Post.

“As for Olivia Chow, [Mayor Ford] returns more calls in a week than she does in a year. Shows up to more houses than she does in a lifetime and everyone knows Rob Ford is famous for returning phone calls.

“When [Chow] says someone calls 20 times… she’s an outright liar.”

The Toronto Sun identified the woman in the ad as Laura Nicholls. In an interview, she told the Sun she walked into Chow's campaign office last month to tell them Ford had never called her back.

But she also admitted she hasn't tried to call him for some time, "after all the crack stuff came out last year."

“I figured he’s got other things on his plate,” Nicholls said. “And I figured I don’t particularly want a crackhead calling me. I stopped because I didn’t think there was any point.”

Unreturned calls were "the least of my beefs with Rob Ford at the time," said Nicholls.

“After the cat comment [when Ford in a media scrum used a crude term for giving a woman oral sex] I had made a vow that I would do whatever it is that I could do to make sure this man is never mayor of my city again,” she told the Sun.

[ Related: Anti-Rob Ford Toronto election signs promote fictional mayoral candidates ]

Ford was politically neutered by his city council last year, which stripped him of most of his powers following his admission he'd smoked crack cocaine and because of his sometimes erratic behaviour in public.

Ford kicked off his re-election campaign Thursday night by thanking "Ford Nation" for sticking by him through "the rocky moments over the past year," the Toronto Star reported.

“I soldier on day in day out because of you people,” Ford said.

“I have experienced how none of us can go through our life without making mistakes. I’ve learned humility, kindness of people and the spirit of second chances. I owe the people a great debt of gratitude.”

The Star said about half the 290 tables in the Toronto Congress Centre were empty, though Toronto Life estimated the crowded numbered at least a couple thousand people.

"It seemed as though the Fords were expecting a larger crowd than they got," Toronto Life said.

The event featured a bagpipe entrance, a rock band, balloons and a fire truck adorned with a banner that read "Saving the taxpayers from getting burned."

Use of the fire truck – which Doug Ford said was purchased at an auction for $4,000 – drew the ire of the firefighters' union, which called it "utterly tasteless," especially considering budget cuts have forced the city to take four fire trucks out of service.

In what will likely be the most watched mayoral race in recent Canadian history, Ford mainly is up against Chow, who before entering federal politics with her late husband NDP leader Jack Layton, was a city councillor, and former provincial Conservative leader John Tory.

A recent poll showed Chow in the lead, followed by Ford, with Tory running third.

There are more than 50 candidates registered to run for mayor, ranging from a couple of Toronto city councillors to someone identified as "Happy Happy," and Dave McKay, who under his stage name Sketchy the Clown is known for satirizing Ford.