With polls suggesting the federal NDP is within striking distance of forming a government, Olivia Chow has not ruled out a run against Liberal MP Adam Vaughan to recapture a federal seat.

A Chow-Vaughan battle in the new Spadina-Fort York riding would be a heavyweight clash of downtown titans, rife with history and certain to draw national attention and major resources from both parties.

Two NDP sources told the Star that renowned criminal lawyer James Lockyer is among those interested in running as a candidate in Spadina-Fort York, one of 30 new ridings created by electoral boundary redistribution.

Sources say Lockyer reached out to Chow, who is teaching part-time at Ryerson University. Chow initially told him she was not interested in a political comeback, but later signalled she had not ruled out a run, said the sources, one of whom said Chow had been deliberating for “some time.”

Lockyer, a social justice advocate famed for his legal work freeing wrongfully convicted Canadians, would not confirm nor deny that account.

“I will certainly say this: If she is (interested in running) and if she decides to, it can only be helpful to the party. She’s a huge asset,” he said this week during a break from a homicide appeal.

“I think it would be a good time whether we were surging or not. (NDP Leader) Tom Mulcair is obviously doing a brilliant job for the party, and it seems to be getting better and better each poll.”

Asked about his own political ambitions, Lockyer said: “I’m getting closer to be able to do it. It’s difficult for me; obviously I always do what I can for the party, but with a young boy, and… it’s not such an easy decision to make.”

Chow, normally responsive to the Star’s inquiries, has not returned email, calls to her cellphone or Twitter direct messages. A woman answering the door at her home Friday said Chow was out but that she would pass on the Star’s request for a comment about her intentions.

It has been 15 months since Chow, 58, resigned her federal Trinity-Spadina seat to run for Toronto mayor, and nine months since she came third in that bruising race.

Vaughan won Trinity-Spadina for the Liberals in a byelection a year ago, beating Chow’s longtime campaign manager Joe Cressy (open Joe Cressy's policard), who months later was elected to Vaughan’s old Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina municipal seat.

Vaughan, the federal Liberal critic for housing and urban affairs, who in 2006 beat Chow’s executive assistant to take her old seat on council, told the Star that he bumped into Chow on Spadina Ave. on Wednesday and asked if she was going to run against him in Spadina-Fort York.

Chow laughed, he said, and told him she loves teaching but that supporters have asked her to run and she has thinking about it. Chow noted she was about to go canoeing with Cressy, Vaughan added.

“Any time good candidates come forward, it’s good for the public and good for democracy,” Vaughan said Friday. “I’ll happily put my record up against hers and let the voters decide what’s best for the riding, the city and the country.”

He noted that Chow’s resignation saddled the public with the cost of a byelection only last year and said he would happily debate their respective work on housing, including the Alexandra Park revitalization.

Vaughan also noted that many voters in the new Spadina-Fort York riding are condo residents of CityPlace and other south-end developments, with different demographics than Trinity-Spadina. That riding has traditionally been held by a Liberal or New Democrat.

“I personally would be very happy if Olivia Chow would express interest, but we have, in fact, not been in any formal contact,” said Tim Ehlich, NDP riding association president for Spadina-Fort York.

“Obviously, she would be a very, very strong candidate, and she would not just make a formidable MP that she used to be, but also she’d be a great cabinet minister as well.”

A nomination date has not yet been set.

“We’re still in the middle of the selection process,” Ehlich said, adding there are a number of “very qualified, talented, accomplished individuals… (who) have approached the riding association expressing their interest to run.”

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Lockyer and other New Democrats say the party’s chances in the new riding have risen since the Liberals supported the Conservative anti-terrorism legislation (C-51), which they pledge to amend if they form the government. The NDP says there is a lot of opposition to Bill C-51 in the downtown riding.

Ehlich wouldn’t speculate on a Chow-Vaughan showdown. “Both are accomplished figures who served as city councillors and served their constituents well,” he said.

He stressed that, as riding association president, he is not endorsing one candidate over another. He worked on both Cressy’s and Chow’s 2014 municipal election campaigns.

Voters go to the polls on Oct. 19.

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CHOW AND VAUGHAN: AN INTERTWINED HISTORY

They are the downtown Toronto progressives who can’t seem to get out of each other’s way. Olivia Chow, the former NDP MP and ex-mayoral candidate, and Trinity-Spadina Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, have never faced off in an election but have remarkably entwined political careers.

1991: Olivia Chow elected to city council for Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina.

January 2006: On her third try, Chow wins federal Trinity-Spadina seat for the NDP.

November 2006: Chow’s executive assistant, Helen Kennedy, runs to replace her on council but is defeated by journalist Adam Vaughan, son of former councillor Colin Vaughan.

March 2014: Chow resigns her seat to run for mayor. Her longtime campaign manager, Joe Cressy, runs to replace her federally. Vaughan decides to jump to federal politics and, as a Liberal, defeats Cressy and is elected to Chow’s old seat.

October 2014: Cressy wins the Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina council seat Vaughan formerly held.

June 2015: Chow is urged to run federally against Vaughan in the new Fort York-Spadina seat. If Chow runs, Cressy will doubtless have a role in her campaign.

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