Jennifer Hollett, a former MuchMusic VJ and CBC journalist, has announced she'll seek the NDP nomination in Toronto Centre.
She'll formally enter the race next Wednesday and will hold a launch event that evening.
The seat has long been considered a Liberal stronghold and was recently held by interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and prior to that by popular MP and former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham.
“This will be a competitive race,” Hollett told the Globe and Mail. “There were lots of NDP voters in Toronto Centre who voted for Bob Rae because they liked Bob Rae.”
Both parties admit Toronto Centre will be a tough fight.
“If we lose them, people are going to say the Liberals are fading away,” Grit MP Jim Karygiannis told the National Post in June. “We’ve got to hold them at all costs. We’ve got to win these areas because they’re our ridings. We can’t show weakness. We’ve got to win them with a large plurality. We’ve got to go in and decimate.”
So far, no other Liberals or NDPers have announced their intentions to run in Toronto Centre.
Hollett was a MuchMusic VJ in the early 2000s but also covered the G20 meeting in Toronto for the CBC and contributed dispatches from the Middle East for the broadcaster. She also received a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard. Hollett has blogged for the Huffington Post on global development issues.