TORONTO – Olivia Chow is denying rumours that Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered her the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ontario.
She flatly denied the report in a tweet Monday morning:
The denial was sparked by a blog post from Steve Paikin who suggested giving Chow the position of Lieutenant-Governor would pull her away from a mayoral bid in 2014.
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Each province’s Lieutenant-Governor is appointed by the Prime Minister. Current Lieutenant-Governor David Onley’s term is expected to end in early 2014.
She’s long been considered a challenger to Mayor Rob Ford in the lead up to the 2014 municipal election, however she has not declared her candidacy.
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If Chow didn’t run, the vote would be split among fiscal-conservative candidates, Paikin suggested, making a Ford victory more likely.
“Without a strong centre-left candidate in the race, all those other would-be candidates will split the centre-right vote with Ford, who no doubt thinks he can count on his loyal supporters to win that fight,” Paikin wrote.
Ford filed his papers to run for re-election early on Tuesday morning. Former city councillor David Socknacki, another centre-right candidate, filed his papers Monday.
So far, 17 candidates have officially registered to run in the 2014 municipal election.
Former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory, like Chow, is considered a potential challenger of Ford’s re-election bid. But he too has yet to declare his candidacy.
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