Scramble to replace Miller begins

Toronto's municipal election is more than a year away, but elbows are already out as political jostling began in earnest following Mayor David Miller's announcement Friday that he will not seek re-election.

John Tory, who was defeated by David Miller in the 2003 election for mayor of Toronto, said Friday he will decide soon if he will take another run at the mayor's job.

"I don't know if I'm running, I don't know if a number of other people who have been named are going to be running," Tory said.

"I think the key is the public want to see some change. They want to see a city government that is competent. They want to see better services. They want to see better value for their tax dollars.

"So I think that we'll see how the ballot ends up and whether or not I'm on it in due course."

The former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, who stepped down from that post earlier this year, said he believes "providing a more bussinesslike way of running the government that respects taxpayers' money is very crucial."

Ontario deputy premier George Smitherman, another prominent public figure who has expressed an interest in a mayoralty bid, wouldn't comment Friday.

Smitherman's boss, Premier Dalton McGuinty, released a statement Friday saying Miller's "dedication to public service has been unwavering. I want to thank him for the work we have been able to do together on behalf of Torontonians. "

Miller said Friday he didn't want to run in the November 2010 election because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

'Pretty weak crop on council'

Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan said that Miller's successor will have a large role to fill. 

Miller will leave behind "significant achievements" in areas like transportation, development and the environment, Vaughan said. "Not just for Toronto, but for Canada and for North America."

He sharply assailed a number of councillors — some of whom are possible mayoral candidates, all of them critics of Miller — for "the things they get wrong, the things we can't afford that they propose, the holidays they take."

He then listed the guilty parties, identifying them with pejoratives. 

"Stuntz, Holiday, Wrong, Afford ... and if you add to that people who look for the microphone before they look for the solution, all of those things around there seem to tell us that we have a pretty weak crop on council," Vaughan said, referring to councillors Karen Stintz, Doug Holyday, Denzil Minnan-Wong and Rob Ford.

"I'll be frank about this — I think the next mayor needs to come from off the council."

Minnan-Wong, however, said he was considering a run.

"I have been considering putting my name forward as a candidate. I think the city needs new leadership and new direction," he said.

Coun. Adam Giambrone, a Miller backer, also wouldn't rule out a run.

"There's months, really. I haven't gone through and done the analysis," he said.