Hong Kong-born Olivia Chow urges SAR voters to help defeat Toronto mayor Rob Ford

Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow has urged tens of thousands of Torontonians living in Hong Kong to help end the "embarrassment" of having Rob Ford as leader of Canada's biggest city.

Chow, whose family migrated from Hong Kong to Canada when she was 13, told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday that Toronto residents living in Hong Kong shared the "sense of shame" that came from having a crack-smoking mayor.

The former MP for the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) said Canadian citizens in Hong Kong who were eligible to vote in October's municipal elections had the chance to restore pride to Toronto.

She was visiting Hong Kong with fellow MPs in November when Toronto police confirmed the existence of a video that showed Ford smoking from a crack pipe. Ford's drunken escapades and his association with known gang members have also provided rich fodder for late-night comedians.

"That was the exact time when Rob Ford made international news. So I saw Rob Ford on the front page of the South China Morning Post. I thought 'oh my God. We can't escape the embarrassment'," said Chow, 57, who is one of Canada's most prominent ethnic Chinese politicians.

It is unclear how many Canadians in Hong Kong are eligible to vote in Toronto's elections. However, a 2010 survey conducted by the Asia Pacific Foundation suggested there were about 295,000 Canadian citizens in the SAR, most of them returnee immigrants. Since a large majority of Hong Kong emigrants settle in either Toronto or Vancouver, a conservative estimate of the number of Torontonians in Hong Kong would reach more than 100,000.