Doug Holyday will run in Etobicoke-Lakeshore byelection

TORONTO – Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday will run as a Progressive Conservative in an upcoming Etobicoke byelection.

Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak confirmed the rumours at a Thursday morning press conference.

“I’m thrilled that someone with the calibre of Doug Holyday, with experience balancing budgets, wants to run for us,” Hudak said.

Holyday is a staunch ally of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and is one of the most senior members of council. He was the last mayor of Etobicoke prior to amalgamation.

And it won’t be the deputy mayor’s first foray into provincial politics. In 1987, he ran as a PC candidate in the former riding of Etobicoke-West but placed second Liberal Linda LeBourdais.

He’ll be running against fellow councillor and Liberal Party nominee Peter Milczyn to fill the seat recently vacated by Laurel Broten.

The riding is a Liberal stronghold: Broten won the riding by almost 9,000 votes in the 2011 election.

Rob Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, threw their support behind Holyday before his nomination was official.

“I support the deputy mayor and I’m going to do everything in my power, if he decides to run, to get him elected,” the mayor said on Wednesday. “Of course I don’t want to lose him but on the other hand I think he would be a huge asset for us at Queen’s park and help us deliver the message.”