Rocco Rossi takes on Mike Colle in provincial election.
Rocco Rossi announces his intention to join the 2010 Toronto mayoralt race on Dec. 14, 2009. Rossi will now turn his attention to provincial politics as a Progressive Conservative candidate running against Mike Colle in Eglinton-Lawrence in the upcoming Oct. 6 provincial election.
Staff file photo/DAVID NICKLE
Rocco Rossi, who bowed out of the mayor's race last fall, is now turning his attention to Queen's Park.
Rossi hopes to run for the Progressive Conservatives in the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence in the Oct. 6 provincial election.
PC leader Tim Hudak said he is hoping Rossi will help the party gain a foothold in Toronto. The Conservatives have been shut out of the city since the 2003 election.
"With the amount of work that needs to be done to turn this province around, we need Toronto to stand tall," Hudak said in a statement.
"Rocco has a rich and deep knowledge of the city, its challenges and ideas how to solve them."
Rossi said he welcomes being part of the campaign.
"I see in Tim Hudak a leader (who) will turn this province around and bring needed change for the residents of the City of Toronto," he said in a statement.
"There's a lot of work today and I look forward to being a part of it."
Eglinton-Lawrence is now held by Liberal Mike Colle, who was first elected to provincial politics in 1995.
Although Rossi is running for the Conservatives, he has a history with the federal Liberal party.
For example, he is a former national director of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Rossi was also the campaign manager for former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory in his failed attempt to become Toronto mayor in 2003. He is also the former chief executive officer of the Heart and Stoke Foundation of Ontario.
Rossi dropped out of the mayor's race about two weeks before the Oct. 25 vote when the latest opinion poll at the time showed he was stalled in fourth place.