Ford staying out of provincial election 

By Don Peat

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford won't be endorsing any of the party leaders in the provincial election. 

TORONTO - It appears Mayor Rob Ford won’t be wading into the provincial election at the 11th hour.
Ford’s office confirmed Thursday — a week before Ontario heads to the polls — that the mayor of Canada’s largest city won't be endorsing one of the three provincial leaders.
Days before the May federal election, Ford came out endorsing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives.
But Ford won’t be throwing his support behind Progressive Conservative Tim Hudak, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath or Liberal Dalton McGuinty
“There are no plans to,” Adrienne Batra, the mayor’s press secretary, told the Sun.
Batra did not provide Ford’s reason for staying out of this race.
In the lead-up to this fall’s election Ford met with all three leaders, pressing them on how they would benefit Toronto.
“Whoever is going to benefit the City of Toronto the most, I’ll be supporting and that's the bottom line,” Ford said on Aug. 31.
Batra dismissed any suggestion Ford wasn’t endorsing a candidate because some polls showing his popularity was slipping as the city grapples with budget cuts.
“I think that would be a ridiculous argument for somebody to make,” she said.
Councillor Adam Vaughan has continually dismissed the notion Ford could be a kingmaker in the provincial election.
“Ford Nation is a notion, it’s just a notion, it’s not a factor, it’s not going to be a factor,” he said at the end of August. “It won’t translate beyond the last (municipal) election."