The son of a former Ontario Premier says he is seriously considering putting his name forward as the PC candidate in the riding of Waterloo.

Mike Harris Jr. says he will likely decide next week if he will enter the race, “My team and I are looking in to what it takes to be the PC nomination in Waterloo, hopefully within the next week or week and a half we should have a good solid answer, but it’s something we are aggressively looking into. ” said Harris Jr.

Harris Jr. also points out that he is no parachute candidate and has strong ties to the city, “I moved down to Waterloo about 5 years ago with my family, we have five kids, my partner Kim, I moved here to peruse some entrepreneurial opportunities, we’ve really enjoyed living in the city, it’s a place that we don’t think we’d ever leave.” said Harris Jr.

If he decides to run this will be Harris Jr’s first time in politics, but he says growing up the son of a former Premier has him ready for what to expect, “It was tough growing up, it wasn’t easy, there were a lot of things said about my family and me personally over the years, but I think its part and parcel, it comes with the territory and you have to let it roll off your back, we are a strong family we know what to expect and everybody’s pretty excited.” Said Harris.

As for how to keep track of all the people named “Michael Harris” straight during the election Mike Harris Jr. says they have a plan, “The big thing is differentiating that we are going to make sure we have the Jr. attached, my dad has always gone by Mike, Kitchener-Conestoga MPP has always gone by Michael, and we are going to throw the Jr. in just so we can differentiate the three.” said Harris.

Right now the nominations for all three major parties remain vacant, the Liberals and NDP plan to announce their nominee’s in March.

The Waterloo seat is currently held by the NDP’s Catherine Fife.