Steve Ryan’s brain said yes but his battered body screamed no.

Ryan, a Toronto homicide detective, told the Star Friday that dropping out of the upcoming Etobicoke-Lakeshore provincial byelection was a tough call.

The 44-year-old father of two, who was the Tory candidate until Thursday, is struggling with injuries he received on the job last summer when his car was hit from behind by a tractor trailer.

“Believe me, it was the hardest thing for me to do, letting down all of those people (in the riding) when I was a nominee, but once that writ was dropped (for the Aug. 1 byelection) I said I can’t put this off any longer,” said Ryan, adding he may yet run for public office when he’s up to it.

“It was the hardest decision I have ever made,” he said.

Ryan, who was nominated in December, rejected suggestions he had been tossed aside to make way for Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, an Etobicoke stalwart who stepped into the breach Thursday. He said he had let the party know in May that he would stay on until they found a replacement candidate.

“The party was very supportive of me,” he said. “That speculation that they pushed me aside is not true whatsoever.”

Ryan said he is slowly on the mend but nowhere near being able to canvass door to door during the 29-day campaign.

“Without going into specifics, it hurts,” he said of his many injuries.

In fact, he is spending time on cold cases in the homicide office so he can work at a desk rather than pounding the pavement on current cases.

Meanwhile, Holyday will face off against Councillor Peter Milczyn, who is hoping to keep former cabinet minister Laurel Broten’s seat in the Liberal fold. The Green candidate is Ann Salewsky. The NDP has yet to nominate a standard bearer.

A Forum poll last week — conducted before Holyday and Milczyn were selected — found the Liberals at 50 per cent, the Tories at 25 per cent, the NDP at 21 per cent, and the Greens at 2 per cent.

Using automated voice-response phone calls, Forum surveyed 442 people in Etobicoke-Lakeshore on June 28. Results are considered accurate to within five percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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