Much of her federal success was part of her personal and political partnership with the late Jack Layton.
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This morning, Olivia Chow confirmed suspicions of her planned return to federal politics, and announced official plans to accept the NDP nomination and run to be the Member of Parliament for the Spadina-Fort York riding.
Olivia Chow called for stricter gun control if she was elected Toronto mayor.
Her return to federal politics comes as NDP Leader Tom Mulcair emerges from Layton’s shadow and puts his own stamp on the party.
She will run against Liberal MP and one time city councilor Adam Vaughan in the Spadina-Fort York riding.
Mulcair, who repeatedly talked of the need to turf the ruling Tories, called Chow a “tireless champion” of issues important to Torontonians.
Vaughan says Chow and the NDP are relying on slogans, whereas he and the Liberals have seen tangible results, particularly with the construction of housing in his riding.
Following her municipal defeat, she took up a teaching job at Ryerson University as a visiting professor in the Faculty of Arts.
Election history: Spadina-Fort York was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution push in advance of the 2015 election. The two former Toronto city councillors are now going head-to-head. However, she maintains that running for mayor was an “important thing to do”. She started out as a strong favourite but finished third after a lacklustre campaign.
“Under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, local governments are forced to choose between transit and infrastructure”.
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She also pledged to work for a national transit strategy and other NDP priorities.
