Smitherman is in!.
George Smitherman celebrates Toronto's successful Pan Am Games bid, two days before declaring his intention to run for mayor of Toronto.
David Nickle
Well this is in interesting development. George Smitherman, according to The Toronto Star's Robert Benzie, has stopped with all the musing already and declared his intention to run for Mayor of Toronto.
I admit to some surprise; I would have thought that the eHealth Ontario scandal and low showing in an early poll would have inoculated the MPP for Toronto Centre Rosedale and now-former Deputy Premier from taking a leap at the mayoralty. But I guess we don't do things like run for mayor because it's easy. And I remember wondering at another long-shot mayoralty candidate's politically-suicidal tendencies in 2003, when little-known city councillor David Miller had the audacity to think he could beat Barbara Hall.
This is good for more than its humbling effects on a city hall reporter, though. It's good to finally start to see some serious shape to the race for mayor of Toronto. Leaving aside City Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, who declared a few weeks back with a campaign platform that can only be described as, well, whacky, Smitherman is really the first serious candidate to decisively enter the race. At some point, John Tory will make a decision. TTC Chair Adam Giambrone seems poised to take the dive. And Shelley Carroll, the city's budget chief, may well get in the race (yes, I know, I said in this week's City Views column she would. Call this the mea culpa blog entry - I'm not sure how easy it'll be for two Liberals to fund-raise in a race against one another, and Smitherman's called the territory now).
How quickly things change. At Friday's Pan Am games celebration, Smitherman was asked whether the games would spur him to run for mayor. "That's a provocative question," was all he'd say.
Today, he gave his provocative answer.