Ontario's deputy premier is no longer shying away from suggestions he's considering a run for Toronto's top job.
George Smitherman, who has represented the Toronto Centre riding as a Liberal MPP since 1999, told reporters Tuesday he wants to make sure his "dedication to public service is focused in the right places."
The openly gay energy and infrastructure minister said he mulled over his political future with his husband during a recent canoe trip in Hudson Bay.
"It's important to just take a look and see whether other options that are available might be well-suited for me and might contribute something to my city,' he said.
"There is a bit of a consensus forming in the city that the status quo is not getting the job done. I just thought it was important to publicly acknowledge that is something I'm thinking about."
Smitherman also confirmed that he and former Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory have a deal that only one of them will run for mayor during the next municipal election.
Tory first entered politics in 2003 when he ran for mayor against David Miller. Tory came in second, pulling in about 38 per cent of the vote. Tory went on to lead Ontario's Progressive Conservative party until he was defeated in an early winter byelection.
"We think it's important there be a clear choice because I think we do agree, both of us, that Toronto is in serious trouble in a number of fronts," said Tory.
"The out-of-control taxing, the out of control spending, the question of value for money for taxpayers, decline of challenged neighbourhoods, transportation -- the list is as long as two arms."
Pundits have speculated about Smitherman's political intentions for months, especially when the MP took an active role during the 39-day municipal strike this summer.
Smitherman made headlines for organizing neighbourhood cleanups during the job action, allowing himself to be recorded carrying a broom -- a campaign prop of Miller's first run for the mayor's chair. He launched a website, onetoronto.ca, encouraging residents to take care of their communities during the job action.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday he'd heard the speculation about Smitherman and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Jim Watson, who some think might run to become the mayor of Ottawa.
"I'm not aware of any intention, serious intention, on the part of any of my ministers to do anything other than to apply themselves wholeheartedly to their responsibilities as ministers," McGuinty said.
Miller told reporters,"I know there's going to be lots of candidates (in the fall of 2010)."
Elections "are about listening to Torontonians but also telling them where you stand," he said.
With files from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and The Canadian Press
