Olivia Chow has announced she wants to get back into federal politics with a bid to be an NDP candidate in her former downtown Toronto neighbourhood.
Chow announced her candidacy Tuesday morning at a news conference where she was accompanied by NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair as well as the children of her deceased husband Jack Layton, who once headed the party.
The political veteran will attempt to be the NDP candidate in the newly created riding of Spadina-Fort York, which encompasses a downtown Toronto area she represented in the House of Commons for several years.
Trinity-Spadina was redistributed and renamed Spadina-Fort York last year.
"In my 30 years of public service, I have represented most of these neighbourhoods… and I believe everyone here deserves and needs a positive change an NDP government can bring,” Chow said.
“I’m ready to bring my leadership and my experience as part of that change."
If Chow receives the NDP nomination, she will face former Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan, who claimed the riding for the Liberal Party last summer when a byelection was held to fill the seat Chow vacated.
Chow resigned as the MP for Trinity-Spadina in 2014 to pursue what turned out to be an unsuccessful mayoral run in Toronto.
"I have nothing personal against Adam Vaughan. It is The Liberal Party that disappoints," Chow said when asked about running against the incumbent.
Liberal Adam Vaughan said Tuesday afternoon that he looked "forward to having his record tested" by Chow and others during the campaign.
"I've run up against the NDP in every campaign I've won," Vaughan said. "The NDP have never given me a free ride in this part of the city and I've prevailed."
He criticized the NDP for having "great slogans" for the issues of childcare and housing, but little substance to their plans.
But he later conceded the Liberals have not yet released any platform plank concerning childcare.
"Stay tuned," he told reporters.
In order to return to politics, Chow stepped away from a teaching position at Ryerson University and in a statement issued Tuesday, the university says Chow has been granted a leave of absence from her role at the school.
"I love teaching. It was a hard decision," Chow said at Tuesday's news conference.
Though she has been endorsed by Mulcair, Chow still needs to be formally voted in as the official NDP candidate for the area by the local riding association. A nomination meeting will be held sometime in mid-August, Chow said. Nobody is running to oppose her.
