[1] In the 2006 Toronto election, David Miller was easily reelected as mayor, winning 57% of the vote and leading in 42 of the city's 44 wards.

[2] Miller's withdrawal created an open race and the possibility of a wide field of candidates contesting the position.

The left was initially split between two high-profile candidates: Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone and TTC chair Adam Giambrone.

[8] His campaign's extensive internal polls showed that wasteful spending at City Hall was one of the biggest concerns among voters, although that "seemed to be the last thing any of the other candidates were talking about".

[7] Ford also pledged to do away with the city's century-old fair-wage policy, which required that private contractors be paid the same as union employees.

[7][10][11] Smitherman and other political opponents attempted to make an issue of Ford's past controversial statements and incidents.

A pollster found that "one middle-aged woman explained that she would overlook personality failings in a mayor – as long as he didn't waste her taxes".

[14][15][16] On August 17, 2010, the National Post reported that a computer user inside the Toronto Star company made edits to the Wikipedia article about Ford that his campaign considered "very serious libel" and copyright infringement.

[17] A Nanos Research poll, published on September 19, 2010, showed Ford doubling his lead from 12% to 24.5% over second-place candidate Smitherman (45.8% to 21.3% of decided voters).

[20][21] On October 22, an EKOS Research Poll found Ford with an 8 per cent lead over second place Smitherman in decided voters; 43.9% to 35.6%.

[23][24] On October 12, the campaign became nasty when signs were posted on University Avenue with the slogan "Wife-beating, racist drunk for mayor!"

[25] George Smitherman was also the subject of attack ads later in October, with a radio ad targeted to the Tamil Canadian community and a poster targeted to Muslim voters both suggesting that the communities had an obligation to support Ford, because he is married to a woman, over Smitherman, who is openly gay and married his partner in 2007.

[27] Activist Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler and lawyer Max Reed filed a complaint about the Ford campaign's borrowing and over-spending to the City of Toronto Compliance Audit Committee.

Four mayoral candidates (Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone and Rob Ford) signed a pledge to give faith-based groups a bigger role in municipal government.

[40] There were six "major" candidates running who were included by the media in public opinion polls and mayoral debates during the campaign, although by election day only three remained as active contenders: Ward 2 councillor Rob Ford, deputy mayor and Ward 19 councillor Joe Pantalone and former Liberal cabinet minister George Smitherman.

[48] When Giorgio Mammoliti subsequently withdrew from the race on July 5, 2010, he encouraged the media to give Achampong his former space in the mayoral debates.

On one occasion, Andrews placed a distant second in the mayoralty race as no serious candidate ran against popular incumbent, David Crombie.

As a result, the municipal law was changed so that the runner-up in the mayoralty contest no longer had the right to succeed to the mayor's chair should the position become vacant between elections.

Although he was taking off a rollerblade, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who claimed he was urinating against a wall near the Rogers Centre attacked him by surprise and violently handcuffed him.

[51] He frequently sings and preaches on the streets of Toronto while wearing long, flowing blankets or robes, which he uses for warmth in case he is arrested and detained in prison.

[50] Charlene Cottle Gerald Derome Diane Devenyi James Di Fiore Di Fiore is a hip-hop artist and freelance journalist best known for the controversy following a piece he wrote for Now Magazine exposing poor security at polling stations against voting multiple times in an election, a point he demonstrated by procuring multiple ballots in the 2004 federal election.

He proposed a reduction in the price of Metropasses, introducing toll roads, reducing property taxes and increasing the size of city council.

Hossain's first mayoral campaign was highlighted by a promise to provide food and housing for Toronto's unemployed to bring them into the workforce.

[3][73][85][86][87][88][89] Smitherman said he would consider toll roads in order to raise revenue and the use of public-private partnerships in public works projects such as rapid transit expansion.

He was the founding editor of Torontopedia.ca, executive director of the Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association and described himself as an "Islamic banker".

[41] On September 28, Thompson ended her campaign and threw her support to George Smitherman in order to defeat Rob Ford.

Brereton withdrew from the mayoral contest on August 4, 2010, in order to run for city council in Ward 6, and threw his support to Rob Ford.

[118] The National Post described him as "a former union leader and New Democratic Party MPP, [who] has transformed himself into a 'right-of-centre' city councillor, who champions such law-and-order issues as calling in the army to crack down on drug crime and gangs.

[120] When announcing his candidacy he unveiled a platform that included building a casino, introducing a municipal lottery, reversing tax increases he had previously voted for and creating a red light district for prostitution.

Yeung, 35, ran for council in 2003 in Ward 41 (Scarborough-Rouge River) where he won 25.4% of the vote losing to Bas Balkissoon in a two-person contest.