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.
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.
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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