Mayoral hopeful David Dorward says he did not know a campaign volunteer had posed as a journalist asking questions about the City Centre Airport. (CBC)

Edmonton mayoral candidate David Dorward is denouncing the "dishonest tactics" of one of his campaign volunteers who posed as a journalist.

"I despise the activities and behaviours of this volunteer during this important campaign. Such antics have no place in our democracy," Dorward said in a written statement.

"I had no knowledge of any of his actions. This individual volunteered for my campaign, along with hundreds of others. He is no longer welcome to participate on my campaign, nor is anyone else who would use dishonest tactics such as these."

The statement comes after it was revealed that Nathan Black, a campaign volunteer and spokesperson for the pro-airport group Envision Edmonton, posed as a Seattle journalist and made phone calls to Coun. Amarjeet Sohi and others asking for information about the contentious closure of the City Centre Airport.

"I'm deeply saddened that this incident has drawn attention away from the important issues of the campaign," Dorward stated. "I've lived my life with integrity and honesty, and that's how I've run my campaign."

'I just couldn't believe it'

Sohi said he was very surprised to learn Black had posed as a journalist during the conversation.

"I was just shocked that it wasn't … a reporter or a journalist from the Seattle Times, that in fact it was Mr. Nathan Black, who is a prominent member of Envision Edmonton," he said. "I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it."

He said Black was "forceful and abusive" during the conversation and accused council members of corruption, awarding city contracts to their friends and intervening in day-to-day operations of the city.

"I'm quite disturbed that people would resort to such a low style of politics. This is very demeaning, this is totally uncalled-for; there's no room for such politics in a clean democratic process like ours," Sohi said.

"I think this was a deliberate, malicious attempt on his [Black's] part to distribute misinformation, and I think Mr. Black owes an apology. He owes an apology to myself … and he owes an apology to Edmontonians for doing such a stupid thing."

Mayor rebuts conflict allegation

Black admitted he posed as a reporter in his conversation with Sohi, and said it was nothing but a prank. Black denied that he was behind a blog claiming to be written by a freelance journalist from Seattle who was looking into the airport issue.

The blog accused Mayor Stephen Mandel of being in a conflict of interest in making a decision about the future of the downtown airfield because he "made a fortune as a land developer" before his election to city council.

Mandel called the allegation "ludicrous and false."

"It's incredibly disappointing that this would happen in the campaign, in our province, in our city," he said.

City Centre Airport, built in 1929, occupies 217 hectares just north of downtown. A June 2008 report estimated the land, if sold, could accommodate 32,000 homes and earn the city an additional $95 million in property taxes.

However many people argue the airport brings a significant economic benefit to the community, and it has been an issue in the campaign for Monday's municipal election.