TORONTO - Ontario's former deputy premier George Smitherman laced up Friday for what could turn out to be the toughest game of his life -- scoring the mayor's seat in Canada's most populous city.
The mercurial politician, known for being the province's first openly gay cabinet minister and self-described Liberal "attack poodle," signed up as a candidate in Toronto's mayoral race before heading out for a skate in front of city hall.
"It's about energy and it's about my ability to perform well on slippery surfaces," he said.
Skilfully dodging specifics about his "platform for action" -- including how he plans to reduce Toronto's staggering $2.5-billion debt -- Smitherman would only promise to make job creation his first priority as mayor.
"Over the course of this campaign, I'm going to bring what I brought to public life so far: a level of energy and a capacity to be a transformative figure and to move policy files along," he said before donning his hockey skates.
The consummate retail politician, Smitherman came equipped with all the tools of electoral seduction: a Toronto Maple Leafs scarf, an Air Canada Centre hat and a good quip about the hazards of showing off one's athletic prowess before a throng of cameras.
"I'm no Robert Stanfield," he joked before gliding on the ice, referring to the famous photo of the federal Conservative leader painfully fumbling a football during the 1974 election campaign.
Smitherman, a trucker's son who grew up in Toronto's west end, has good reason to be jovial. His biggest competition and former political foe John Tory -- who came a close second to current mayor David Miller in the 2003 election -- bowed out of the race Thursday after mulling a bid for months.
Tory's departure doesn't change his game plan, Smitherman said.
"I have a motto, which is never be outworked," he said.
Smitherman, who held a provincial seat in downtown Toronto for more than a decade, is well-known to voters -- a big plus in municipal elections, experts say.
But Tory's supporters point out that their man was way ahead in the polls and had 15 to 20 of the city's 44 councillors on his side, while Smitherman secured only one endorsement.
Tory's decision to sit this one out will ultimately benefit Smitherman, said Myer Siemiatycki, a politics professor at Toronto's Ryerson University.
"In many ways, they really were running against each other, not only because they would have been the two highest-profile candidates, but because they really stood for the same thing and therefore were going after the same funders, the same campaign workers and ultimately the same voters," he said.
"So the big winner in John Tory's decision is George Smitherman."
But if Smitherman wins and botches the mayor's job, it could jeopardize the Ontario Liberals' iron grip on coveted Toronto ridings in the 2011 provincial election, he added.
"It would just be seen as, 'This is what a prominent Liberal did to us."'
The Oct. 25 election has attracted 14 candidates so far, including Rocco Rossi, the former national director of the federal Liberal party.
Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, who served in the Ontario NDP government of Bob Rae, has entered the race, and at least three other city councillors -- deputy mayor Joe Pantalone, Adam Giambrone and Rob Ford -- are also thinking about adding their names to the ballot.
Experts predict Smitherman will have to temper his aggressive style if he wants to show voters that he can build coalitions to get things done at city hall.
The NDP dubbed him "Furious George" for his numerous blow-ups with hospital boards and administrators while serving as health minister -- a $40-billion portfolio that Smitherman said makes him particularly well-equipped to tackle Toronto's financial woes.
After giving his farewell speech in December, even the opposition parties acknowledged that he'd won their respect, he said.
"I think that gives you some flavour for the capacity that I have to build a team that is reflective of the breadth of diversity, including ideological diversity, that exists in a city," Smitherman said.
"I've been living under the rainbow for awhile, and I'm going to build the rainbow coalition of supporters."
His opponents acknowledge that Smitherman is quick, bright and self-confident, but he also landed on thin ice during his time in cabinet.
He spoke candidly about having enjoyed party drugs, mused openly about test-driving an adult diaper to satisfy himself that nursing-home residents were receiving appropriate care and called optometrists a "bunch of terrorists" during a fight with the profession over fees.
Before leaving cabinet to pursue his mayoral ambitions, Smitherman dismissed calls for his resignation in the wake of a scathing report on eHealth Ontario that prompted former health minister David Caplan to quit, adding that he had no "survivor guilt."
He was also notoriously difficult to work for, which led the NDP to set up a 1-800 number for former staff to call in with complaints.
