A second veteran politician is seeking a spot on St. Thomas city council in the upcoming municipal election.

Former Conservative MP Joe Preston announced Tuesday outside city hall he would be running for mayor. He represented the federal riding of Elgin-Middlesex-London from 2004 to 2015 before he decided not to seek another term.

Preston, 63, joins former St. Thomas mayor and Liberal MPP Steve Peters in the race for a spot on council, although Peters is a candidate for councillor.

“It’s my hometown and I think it can be better,” Preston said, shortly after filing his nomination papers with the city clerk’s office.

Through his business, volunteer and federal political work experience, Preston said he’s ready to enter municipal politics to make his hometown better.

I think it's very important that politicians, the people who are helping serve their community, also know how to create jobs. Joe Preston

The race for St. Thomas mayor is heating up with Malichi Male and current city councillor Steve Wookey already on the list of registered candidates. Incumbent Heather Jackson said in February she planned to run for re-election. The last day to file nomination papers is July 27 at 2 p.m.

Preston and his partner Stephanie Brown started selling granola in 2016. St. Thomas-based Living Alive Granola’s products can now be found in stores across Canada.

Preston is also owner of the Wendy’s franchise in St. Thomas.

“As a job creator, I hold a position that would help me in my job as mayor,” Preston said.

Throughout his time as MP, Preston was a business owner who found out through experience how to balance the two.

“I think it’s very important that politicians, the people who are helping serve their community, also know how to create jobs,” he said.

St. Thomas needs growth in a number of areas including job opportunities and housing options, Preston said.

“One of my strengths is not being able to do it by myself, but being able to listen to groups and come to a consensus,” Preston added. “City council will be no different than that, the community groups that we already have in place are no different than that. The better we are at working together, the more likely we’ll find success.”

The city has an opportunity to create connections with a newly elected Progressive Conservative provincial government and local MPP Jeff Yurek as a cabinet minister, Preston said.

“It’s not so much who I know but that we’ve been able to work together across party lines and across sectors in the past and that when we can bring that to St. Thomas for growth, that’s a good thing,” he said.

After he left Ottawa in 2015, Preston never stopped being an advocate and activist in his community. His philanthropic work includes being chair of Farmtown Canada, co-chair of the Local Employment Counselling Centre, director of the Canadian Centre for Product Validation and involvement with the United Way.

The timing was right for him to run for mayor with the municipal election on Oct. 22. A lot of people came to him, he said, telling him to take advantage of the opportunity.

It wasn’t until he’d discussed it with Brown at length, that he decided definitively to make his mayoral candidacy official.

Preston said his ability to lead and co-operate with others was a factor in his running for mayor and not councillor.

“I thought the mayor’s seat suited me a lot better in that way.”