Eve Adams, the former Conservative MP who crossed the floor to join the Liberals on Monday, will run for the Liberal nomination in the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence.
Adams made the announcement Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CP24, noting that it was time to win back the traditional Liberal stronghold from the Conservatives.
"It's critical to reach out and take back riding after riding that has gone Conservative and bring them back into the red fold," she said.
"I'm just so fortunate to be here, looking forward to working awfully hard and awfully hard for the residents of Eglinton-Lawrence."
If the newly-minted Liberal wins the nomination, she will be taking on Finance Minister Joe Oliver in the next federal election. Oliver won the riding in 2011, marking the first time the riding had voted non-Liberal since 1979.
In a statement to CTV News, Oliver said that he will continue to work on behalf on his constituents, while the Liberals nominate a candidate for the riding.
"I will continue to do what I have done for the last four years; represent the values and interests of the people in Eglinton-Lawrence," he said.
Adams, who is the current MP for the riding of Mississauga-Brampton South, said she has strong connections with the Eglinton-Lawrence area and is planning to move to the neighbourhood.
If successful in her nomination bid, Adams said one of the main issues she'll be bringing up to constituents is the Conservative income splitting policy.
Adams, who had campaigned on the policy in 2011 as a Conservative, called it an "unfair proposal" that will only benefit a small group of Canadians.
"It pits one group of Canadians against another in order to get a few additional votes," she said.
In a move that stunned political analysts, the long-time Conservative supporter crossed the floor on Monday to sit with the Liberals.
Sitting next to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Adams told reporters at the time that she decided to leave the Conservative caucus because she no longer felt "at home in the Conservative Party either politically or intellectually."
Later that day, Conservative Party National Council President John Walsh released a statement that he had informed Adams on Jan. 29 that she would not be allowed to run for the Conservatives in the next election due to "misconduct from the Oakville-North Burlington nomination race."
Adams had run in the tough nomination campaign for the newly formed Oakville-North Burlington riding last year, but dropped out, citing health problems from a concussion she had previously suffered.
Adams confirmed that she had met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in early January in Toronto, but would not give specifics on what was discussed during their meeting.
"I don't want to disclose a private conversation," she said.
Liberal MPP calls Adams' bid 'preposterous'
Not everyone is pleased by Adams' bid to run in the next federal election for the Toronto riding.
Liberal MPP Mike Colle, who has represented Eglinton-Lawrence for 20 years, said he's heard from many residents who are unhappy that an MP from Mississauga has been parachuted into the riding. Lawyer Marco Mendicino has already been campaigning in the riding for the Liberal nomination.
Colle told CTV’s Power Play Wednesday that the majority of people in the riding don’t know anything about Adams and are wondering, “Where the heck did this come from…Is this all we can get?”
Voters and campaign volunteers are “befuddled” and “angry” because they weren’t consulted, Colle said.
“Somehow this seems to be part of a scheme concocted for political reasons that only those in Ottawa know about that seem very strange,” he said.
“There’s no way I’m going to help her.”
In an earlier interview with CP24, Colle questioned whether Adams can properly represent the concerns of the constituents, having not lived in the area.
But Adams said that her decision to leave the Conservatives was not made in haste.
"You obviously have to continue working hard for people and for a team that you're a part of, but I think it was very clear for many people for quite some time that I was quite unhappy," she said.
She added that she has the complete support of her family, including her fiancé and former senior Conservative adviser Dimitri Soudas. Soudas was forced out as executive director of the Conservative Party last March over allegations about his involvement in Adams' nomination bid in the Oakville-North Burlington riding.
Soudas will now be helping out on Adams’s campaign and knocking on doors in the riding. But Adams rejected the notion that he had any influence on her decision to leave the Conservatives.
"Categorically no, this is a tough decision that I made," she said. "I have a long history of community service in my own career, and he has his own career."
