Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin has confirmed he will not be seeking the NDP nomination for the upcoming federal byelection, made vacant with Denise Savoie's resignation for health reasons Aug. 31.
"I'm looking forward to seeing who is putting the nomination up with great interest," Fortin said, confirming he would not be seeking the "demanding job."
He didn't rule out the possibility of running for a higher office in future.
Fortin praised Savoie for having the "unique ability to co-ordinate all three levels of government."
The federal government has 180 days to call a byelection when a seat becomes vacant. Waiting until the February deadline would place the Victoria byelection right in the middle of the 2013 provincial election campaign, an undesirable scenario for both levels of government.
Savoie was in her third term as Victoria MP. She was first elected in 2006 and won 50 per cent of the vote in the 2011 election.
Her challengers at that time were Conservative Patrick Hunt, Jared Giesbrecht for the Greens and Christopher Causton, Liberal candidate and former Oak Bay mayor.
All three parties will go through a candidate nomination process in the coming months.
dpalmer@vicnews.com