Doug Ford will not run for leadership of Ontario PC party

WATCH: Doug Ford tells Global’s Leslie Roberts why he chose not to run for PC provincial leadership.

TORONTO – Doug Ford will not run for leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, he said at a press conference Thursday morning.

“There’s one thing that’s very clear that I’ve heard over and over again. People are hungry for change in this province. They’re tired of seeing the deficit bloom, they’re tired of the massive debt that we’re facing in this province every day,” he told reporters outside of his Etobicoke office.

“I’m here to announce that I will not be running for the PC leadership.”

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Ford has long said he’d like to enter provincial politics and had said the Ontario PC Party needed an “enema from top to bottom.” He said he prefers Christine Elliott, a long-time family friend, but said he’d support any of the five candidates.

“I will be instrumental in helping them day in and day out, making sure we can get this province back on track.”

WATCH: Alan Carter explains what Doug Ford not entering the race means for the other candidates. 

The declared candidates include MPPs Vic Fedeli, Lisa MacLeod, Christine Elliott, Monte McNaughton and federal MP Patrick Brown.

But Ford did poll well among conservative voters in Ontario, according to a Forum Research survey. According to the Nov. 3 poll, Ford ranked second behind Elliott with 24 per cent support. Elliott garnered 34 per cent support.

Ford said the PC party should look to finding efficiencies, reducing the deficit and debt, as well as bringing union members into the fold. “Right now, we have a lot of changes to be made in the province,” he said.

But don’t count Ford out of politics completely. He said Thursday he’s just taking a break from politics to focus on his business and family and may re-enter public life in the future.

Ford finished second in the Oct. 27 Toronto municipal election behind mayor-elect John Tory, after he stepped in when his brother Mayor Rob Ford was diagnosed with cancer.

WATCH: Several prominent PCs spoke to reporters Thursday about Doug Ford’s decision not to seek the leadership of the provincial PC party