Former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford will not be joining the race to become the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
Ford made the announcement Thursday morning, apologizing to "Ford Nation" supporters as he explained that he wanted to focus on his family, rather than politics.
He told reporters outside the Ford family business, Deco Labels, that this was the hardest decision he'd ever made, and noted that the support he received was "very humbling."
"It's been the most difficult of my entire life," he said. "It was tougher than deciding whether to run for mayor, run for council, any decision I've ever made, this by far was the toughest."
"There's one thing I've heard over and over again: People are hungry for change in this province," Ford said, adding that he felt his presence wasn't needed in the leadership race.
He said the other candidates running are very capable and would make "fabulous" leaders, but threw his support behind the leadership campaign of Christine Elliott, the wife of the late finance minister Jim Flaherty. Flaherty and Elliot were present at Rob Ford's 2011 mayoral campaign kickoff.
"Loyalty means everything to us," he said. "Christine is an extremely, extremely bright individual, and she can drive this province forward."
Ford had been weighing a decision to run for the PC leadership until, he says, he made a snap decision "literally last night."
Elliott said she reached out to Ford a few weeks ago
"I'm very pleased that in not running he's endorsed me as the candidate," she said in an interview. "We have a family friendship going back many years, and I'm honoured to have his support."
The provincial PC leadership race began when former leader Tim Hudak stepped down following the Liberals' June 12 provincial election win. It spelled the fourth consecutive loss for the Tories at the polls. Hudak has also said he's supporting Elliot.
The other declared candidates are MPPs Vic Fedeli, Lisa MacLeod and Monte McNaughton and federal MP Patrick Brown. McNaughton admitted that without Ford and "Ford Nation" the leadership contest will attract a lot less attention.
“I thought he would draw some excitement to the race and would have added to the membership numbers for the Ontario PC party," he said.
Ford said his younger brother, outgoing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, was disappointed about the decision.
"I love Rob more than anything in the world. I know he was very supportive … Honestly, Rob wasn't happy that I wasn't running."
Even though he will be watching the leadership race from the sidelines, Ford hopes to have a positive effect on enrolment in the Conservative party, which didn't win a single seat in Toronto in the June election.
"I always remind the PC party that over 80 per cent of the 330,000 votes that I ended up receiving would never, and have never, voted PC before," he said. "I'll be out there campaigning aggressively, bringing the Ford Nation base, as many as we can, over to the PC party and making sure that the PC party changes their ways."
Ford, 50, told reporters he hadn't decided yet whether he'd run as an MPP in the next provincial election in 2018.
Members of the Progress Conservative party will be able to vote on May 3 or May 7 for a new leader. The results will be released on May 9.
With files from The Canadian Press
