Rocco Rossi to run for provincial Tories

TORONTO – The former national director of the federal Liberal party will run as a Conservative candidate in the upcoming Ontario election.

Rocco Rossi made the announcement at Queen’s Park Tuesday morning, where he said the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty was "tired" and had "run out of ideas."

"Ontario needs and wants change – and that means change in leadership," Rossi said as he stood next to Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak. "I don’t believe that Dalton McGuinty represents the change that Ontario so desperately needs. He’s not the same man he was several years ago. He’s lost his way."

Rossi defended his decision to defect to the Conservative party, saying he felt comfortable with the party’s core values of respect for taxpayer dollars, responsible budgeting and making "government work for you."

"Lots of people have changed parties when they determined their ideals and their desire to bring change is not in alignment with where they were before," he said. "There is no contradiction and no issue."

He will run in a Toronto riding currently held by Liberal MPP Mike Colle. The riding was closely fought in the 2007 provincial election, when Colle beat his Conservative opponent by roughly 2,200 votes, or 5.5 per cent.

Current polls show a much tighter race shaping up ahead of the Oct. 6 Ontario election. Conservatives currently lead the Liberals by a slim, three-point margin.

Rossi, a former consultant and fundraiser, came out of the political backrooms in 2010 to run for Toronto’s mayoral race.

He garnered attention for proposing a massive, controversial tunnel that would have bisected the city. He also released ads – with the tag line `Rocco Rossi: Goodfella’ – that riffed on his Italian heritage.

Rossi bowed out of that contest 12 days before it wrapped up after continually poor polling results.

Rossi will need to win a nomination contest to become the party’s official candidate in Eglinton-Lawrence.