Doug Ford says “the stars are aligning” for him to seek the Progressive Conservative leadership and he will make up his mind within the next few days.

The runner-up to mayor-elect John Tory in last month’s Toronto election said he should know by Thursday if he will run to succeed Tim Hudak as Conservative leader.

“I just know if we roll out the machine it will be a massive machine and it will benefit the PC Party, but more importantly it will benefit the people of Ontario, that’s what I believe,” he said Tuesday.

Ford’s comments came the morning after the first Tory leadership candidates’ debate in Sudbury.

“Interesting debate last night,” the departing Etobicoke city councillor said with a chuckle about the low-key event attended by about 120 people that received little province-wide media attention beyond the Star.

“I’d add a little spice to it, that’s for sure. I’d liven it up,” he said.

“You know what’s missing? The word is ‘pizzazz.’ There’s no pizzazz there. It’s all rah-rah-rah. We should be going into these towns and filling it up with 500 to 1,000 people.”

While Ford sounds eager to hit the campaign trail, he emphasized he hasn’t fully decided yet.

“Let’s see what happens over the next few days. The stars are aligning,” he said.

“Any fight I’ve ever been in in my life — political, business or anything else — you always have to know you have a chance to win.”

The next PC leader will be elected at a party convention May 9 in Toronto.

It’s already a crowded field with MPPs Christine Elliott (Whitby-Oshawa), Vic Fedeli (Nipissing), MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton), Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), and MP Patrick Brown (Barrie).

The Tories lost nine seats in the June 12 election and handed a majority government to Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals thanks mostly to a controversial pledge to scrap 100,000 public service positions to help balance the books.

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Since then, all leadership candidates have renounced that stance as they rebuild toward the 2018 election and agree the party must make inroads in urban Ontario.

Ford — who received 331,006 votes in the Oct. 27 mayoral race compared with 218,589 for all 23 PC candidates in Toronto on June 12 — has said the Tories cannot abandon cities to the Liberals and New Democrats.

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