Ontario Premier Doug Ford has once again waded into Toronto’s mayoral race, appearing to throw his support behind crime-focused candidates while calling out local councillors hoping to get the job.

Despite promising early on to stay out of the byelection and saying that he will “work with any mayor,” Ford has made it clear that he hopes certain candidates are not chosen.

“We need someone who has experience dealing with crime,” the premier said at an unrelated news conference Friday.

“I believe we need someone that has actually run an operation with a number of employees … We need someone in Toronto that knows all of Toronto, not a little ward that they've been representing, but all of Toronto.”

Ford himself ran for mayor in 2014 after having been a one-term councillor for a ward in Etobicoke.

Ford also indicated that he hopes the new mayor is fiscally responsible, claiming the city hasn’t seen fiscal responsibility since his brother Rob Ford held the position.

The premier has recently targeted the city for “waste” in its spending, with the province recently announcing plans for an audit to find money that can offset the loss of some development charges it forced municipalities to drop in its housing bill. The City of Toronto has also asked both the provincial and federal governments for financial aide due to revenue shortfalls related to the pandemic.

There are currently over 90 people registered to run for mayor in the city, including former Police Chief and onetime Progressive Conservative candidate Mark Saunders, whose candidacy Ford has welcomed.

Saunders was previously named by the Ford government as a special adviser on the Ontario Place redevelopment

At an announcement in March, Ford said Torontonians should not pick anyone who wants to cut the police budget.

“Support the candidates that are going to fund the police, that are gonna get more police officers in our subways and our streets because again, I've never seen it this bad ever, absolutely ever.”

A recent Mainstreet Research poll released Friday shows Saunders in third place with 12 per cent of support among decided voters. Former MP Olivia Chow and former councillor Ana Bailao appear to be leading.

In a statement, Bailao said Ford should stop trying to tell Torontonians how to vote and instead start working to help the city support its services.

"Doug Ford said this morning that someone who has only represented a “little” ward shouldn’t be Mayor. Well, someone who only represented a “little” ward became premier," she said.

"I have a very clear message for that Premier today: Doug Ford, your job is to run the province and support its largest city, and on June 27th it will be my job to run the city and fix its deteriorating services.”

This isn’t the first time Ford has expressed his support for a candidate in the race.

In February the premier said that if voters chose a “lefty mayor” it would be a “disaster for the city.”

“If a left wing mayor gets in there, we're toast. I'll tell you, it would be a disaster in my opinion.”

Registration for Toronto’s mayoral race ends on Friday. The election will be held on June 26.