OTTAWA—For a guy who claims he rarely succeeds on the first try, Noah Richler has certainly planned an ambitious entrance into political life.

The Toronto author hopes to carry the NDP’s banner in Toronto-St. Paul’s this October, hoping to unseat the popular and long-serving Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett.

It will be an uphill battle, and Richler knows it. But it’s a hill of his own choosing.

“I was quite straightforward that I live in Cabbagetown, outside the riding. But the major issues facing Toronto are true to the city at large,” Richler told the Star. “So I feel I can represent the riding with integrity.”

Richler, the son of late novelist Mordecai Richler, is one of the first star candidates to be rolled out in the GTA by the New Democrats. His announcement to contest the riding comes at a time when the NDP are trying to maintain the momentum that had them leading virtually every national poll for more than a month.

Born in Montreal, Richler was brought up in Canada and England. His connections to Montreal, he’ll tell you, aren’t as pronounced as you might think. In his youth, he walked the Prairies with a seismic testing crew, spent time as a prospecting assistant in the Yukon, and worked an iron mine in Labrador.

Living in England, Richler produced for the BBC for more than a decade before returning to Canada in the late 1990s. He settled in Cabbagetown and now considers himself a Torontonian.

“I believe that Toronto is one of the few, if not the only, places in Canada that doesn’t blame anywhere else for its misfortunes,” Richler said. “I like this place, I think it’s a superb city, I love the people that are here.”

Asked specifically what attracted him to the NDP, he admits that his family has traditionally had more of a Liberal bent. But he cited the NDP’s focus on Canada’s cities, their approach to child care, and their attention to the issue of precarious work specifically.

“It’s not unlike publishing. They’re both such irrational businesses, so you want to have a boss you like,” Richler said. “Not much point in doing it otherwise. And I think (NDP Leader Thomas) Mulcair is a smart man.”

To say that the NDP have not done well, historically, in Toronto-St. Paul’s would be a bit of a mischaracterization. They haven’t even come in second place.

In the last federal election, as the Liberals were collapsing all over the GTA, Carolyn Bennett still managed to win with more than 40 per cent of the vote. When times were good for the Liberals, Bennett was winning with as much as 58 per cent of the ballots cast.

But before Bennett’s hegemony, the old district was considered a bit of a bellwether riding — one that would typically go with whatever party looked most likely to form government. For the first time in quite some time, a few months out before the election, most polls are suggesting that’s the NDP.

Richler said the party has signalled they’ll put some resources towards his run — the all-important capital that ground campaigns depend on. He also seems to enjoy the approval of some high-profile New Democrats — Stephen Lewis has agreed to speak at his nomination, he says. But it appears he still has some work to do on the organizational side.

Richler also seems a somewhat reluctant politician — he was concerned about sacrificing his credibility as a national affairs writer (he’s written unflattering things about Canada’s political class before), and says he isn’t a fan of the sort of “combative” politics that have become the norm in Ottawa.

But Richler doesn’t seem concerned about his opponents digging up his more controversial positions as an author or his personal past, which includes an addiction to, and recovery from, heroin.

“I always feel slightly hypocritical talking about that person because, in truth, I’m not him anymore,” Richler said.

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“I would never deny or suppress that moment, because I think it’s really important to stand as something of an example to people who are having problems for whatever reason.”

So does the man who claims to frequently flub the first try think that he’ll find success in his first political race?

“Nothing comes naturally, everything requires effort,” Richler said. “You’ve got to give it a go.”