Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti will seek the nomination to run for the Ontario Progressive Conservative party in Brampton.Mammoliti, an outspoken and frequently controversial politician who counts few friends on council after holding elected office for a quarter century, will try to make the jump back to Queen’s Park after he was first elected as an NDP MPP in the old Yorkview riding.“I think I’m better served being who I am in changing a much larger kind of government to make sure that the smaller governments are doing the right things,” said Mammoliti, who made the announcement Tuesday live on AM640 with reporters crowded into the Queens Quay studio.Read more:Doug Ford heads into first caucus meeting unsure if a PC government would run a deficitPC Leader Doug Ford promises to scrap the Liberals sex-ed curriculumOpinion | Edward Keenan: Toronto councillors are letting the serious stuff slide as they run down the clock to the fall electionNewly-elected PC party leader Doug Ford, who served alongside Mammoliti as a one-term councillor, asked him to consider running for mayor of Toronto or as an MPP, Mammoliti said.“I’ve been so loyal to the Fords that I’m going to go down there and I’m going to do my best.”Mammoliti said he did not discuss a potential cabinet seat with Ford if the party won a majority.Brampton Centre is a new riding in this provincial election. The Liberals have yet to nominate a candidate. Harjit Jaswal, who came second to now federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in the 2014 Bramlea-Gore-Malton provincial race, is also seeking the Brampton Centre seat for the PC party.At city hall, Mammoliti had been an ally of former mayor Rob Ford, Doug’s brother, during a chaotic term and an enemy of Mayor John Tory. He has sat in the coveted council chamber chair directly next to that of the mayor for eight years, causing a scene this term when it was suggested deputy mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong might want t ...
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