

Chris Herhalt, CP24.com





City councillor Giorgio Mammoliti is seeking a return to Queen’s Park, this time as a Tory, saying he will seek the PC Party nomination in Brampton-Centre.

Mammoliti, who has represented York-West for the last 18 years at city council, told reporters Tuesday he will seek the party’s nomination in a new riding in Brampton that was created after the last election to reflect the growth of the area.

He said the pivot from representing a city ward in north Etobicoke to a part of Brampton for the province is natural for him.

“Lots of people from my ward have moved to Brampton to buy their first house,” Mammoliti told CP24. “I bought my first house in Brampton in 1983 and I feel like I am almost going home.”

He said that while he was considering running for mayor of Toronto, Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford has told him many times his place is at Queen’s Park.

“He has made it very clear and told me that he didn’t want me to run for mayor, he wanted me with him. I wanted to run for mayor, I think most people knew that, I still may have that opportunity you never know. For now I am going to do what my leader tells me to do.”

Mammoliti was first elected to public office as the NDP MPP for the now-renamed riding of Yorkview in 1990, serving his first term in Bob Rae’s NDP majority government before his defeat in 1995.

He returned to city politics, briefly running for mayor of Toronto in 2010.He pulled out of the race before election day.

As councillor for York-West, he has advocated at various times for a so-called red light district with legalized prostitution on portions of Toronto Island, the construction of the world’s largest flagpole in the city to attract tourists and converting a portion of the park north of Queen’s Park into an outdoor tent city for the homeless.

He has opposed safe injection sites in the city, saying they would increase drug use and force local officials to spend most of their money “sweeping up needles.”

In 2014, Toronto’s integrity commissioner found that Mammoliti violated the city’s code of conduct by accepting an $80,000 “gift” generated by the proceeds of a fundraising dinner and dance he himself held in 2013.

Council voted to dock Mammoliti three months’ pay, roughly $26,000, as a result.

If he successfully secures the nomination as PC candidate for Brampton Centre and if he wins a seat in the Ontario legislature, he would then resign his council seat.

If he is defeated, he told CP24 he would attempt a return to council for at least another term.

Mammoliti joins councilmates Shelley Carroll and Denzil Minnan-Wong who are also running in the provincial general election. Carroll is running for the Liberals in Don Valley North.

Minnan-Wong is running for the PCs in Don Valley East.