Toronto Coun. Karen Stintz says she offered to quit her position as TTC chair at least twice, only to be rebuffed by Mayor Rob Ford.

"On at least two occasions I had invited [Ford] to replace me as chair. And he didn't accept that offer," Stintz said in an interview with CBC's Anne-Marie Mediwake at a breakfast event held by the Women's Executive Network in Toronto on Thursday.

Stintz, who was raised by her father and says she has always been comfortable communicating with men, was candid when speaking of the challenges she encountered trying to deal with the Ford administration.

"Working for the Ford administration was the first time in my life I absolutely felt an inability to communicate with a group of men. I had never experienced that before," she said.

Until their political clashes, Stintz had been seen as a Ford ally. Coun. Doug Ford, the mayor's brother, characterized her position during the recent light rail and subways debate as “a betrayal” to the people who hired her.

'Working for the Ford administration was the first time in my life I absolutely felt an inability to communicate with a group of men.'— Karen Stintz, TTC Chair

The offers to quit came in the midst of wrangling over how to expand transit in Toronto. The mayor favoured building a subway on Sheppard Avenue East, but did not have a detailed funding plan.

He also wanted to bury virtually all of the Eglinton Crosstown light rail line. Stintz however, was opposed to that plan, and continued to tell him about the funding issues around his plan.

"I finally told him I didn't support his plan," she said.

Eventually, a special council meeting was called and council voted against Ford's plan and in favour of a plan that called for the construction of light rail lines on Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton avenues.