City councillor Giorgio Mammoliti will no longer be seeking the Ontario PC Party nomination in Brampton-Centre saying his constituents have urged him to seek re-election in York-West.

Mammoliti told reporters on March 20 that he was planning to seek the party’s nomination in the new Brampton riding. However, the city councillor, who has been representing Ward 7 for the past 18 years at city council, confirmed to CP24 on Monday that this is no longer the case.

“Quite frankly I’ve been struggling since I made the announcement to run for a seat in Brampton-Centre for the provincial government in the upcoming election. I have been inundated with phone calls from my community that I represent right now that they do not want me to move, they want me in Toronto, they want me to stay in Toronto and they’ve made that loud and clear,” Mammoliti said while speaking with CP24 on the phone Monday night.

“I have owed my career to those who have voted for me over the past 28 years and loyalty for me matters the most.”

Mammoliti previously said that his potential run at Queen’s Park came after Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford told him he was needed there.

“While I’ve been loyal to the Fords, as everybody knows, I need to be there for those that have voted for me for 20 years and want me to stay there,” he said.

“I told him (Ford) that I have struggled with this and I apologized to him for obviously making the announcement that I did and then having to go back to Toronto but he truly understands, he’s very supportive of it and he looks forward to working with me in the future.”

After Mammoliti’s announcement, Ford tweeted on Monday night.

“(Mammoliti’s) decision to remain at City Hall is great news for the people of Ward 7 – York-West,” he wrote. “I look forward to working together again in the future of municipal issues.”

Mammoliti was initially elected to public office as a NDP MPP in 1990. He later ran for mayor of Toronto in 2010 but pulled out of the race before election day.

While serving on city council, Mammoliti has been an advocate for a so-called red light district with legalized prostitution on portions of Toronto Island, building the world’s largest flagpole in the city to attract tourists and converting part of Queen’s Park into an outdoor tent city for the homeless.

The municipal election is expected to be held in October.