Ex-city councillor Doug Ford is not closing the door on running in this federal election, or on seeking the federal Conservative leadership when Stephen Harper quits.

“I’d be lying if I said ‘Never,’ but I truly believe the PM, Harper, is going to be around for a long time, I hope,” Ford said in an interview with the Star on Friday. As for vying for a federal seat, “You can always throw your hat in but I truly believe right now that I’m not going to run.”

After serving for one term on city council with his brother, then-mayor Rob Ford, Doug Ford ran to succeed his ailing brother but last fall finished second to John Tory.

Asked where he would run, Ford said Etobicoke North, where he did not believe the Conservatives had nominated a candidate. The Liberal incumbent, Kirsty Duncan, “outside of being a Liberal, is a good person,” he said. “She does a good job, she works hard.”

The Conservatives, however, say they already have a candidate nominated to challenge Duncan. The riding association has chosen Toyin Dada, a young non-profit executive director and singer.

Bloomberg quoted Rob Ford on Friday saying that, should Harper win only a minority government on Oct. 19 and then step down as party leader, his businessman brother Doug would seek the leadership. Rob Ford, recovering from cancer surgery, has said he hopes to make a mayoral comeback in 2018.

“Right now it looks like it’s going to be a minority government,” Doug Ford said, “but I really feel the polls are going to swing as the election date comes closer, I think people come to their senses. God help us if the NDP get in.”

As for his prime ministerial ambitions, he said: “You never know, things rapidly change in politics and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Asked if he would be able to compete on the national stage, Ford said he and his brother “stopped the gravy train and we respect the taxpayers like no other politician in the country. I’d put my experience up against Trudeau or Mulcair any day of the year.”

Ford said the party has asked him to campaign for some GTA candidates, including Roxanne James, running for re-election in Scarborough and Parm Gill in Brampton.

Asked how the Conservatives are faring in the Fords’ Etobicoke base, Doug Ford said “I think it’s going to be really tough. Ted Opitz is fighting for his life (in Etobicoke Centre) and Bernard Trottier is fighting for his life in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.”

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