New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath announced Steve Parish will run for her party in the spring election.

Parish was the longest serving mayor of Ajax, holding the office for 23 years from 1995 to his retirement in 2018. He is known for his environmental work expanding the Greenbelt, and for redeveloping the town's waterfront into a public area. His environmentalist chops are evidenced by his Twitter handle, @cycleparish.

He said the NDP's stand against development on Carruther's creek was the "tipping point" that inspired him to make the leap to party politics.

"That’s where I said, 'OK, that’s the leader I want to follow," said Parish, who was raised in Ajax, where he still lives with his wife. His father, Bill Parish, was Ajax mayor before him.

He also cited the long-term care crisis and education issues as influences on his decision.

"I don’t need to come out of retirement and do this, but I think we’re at a crossroads here. Not just because of the pandemic, but because of what the pandemic has focused on in terms of how we’re falling short in terms of education, in terms of health care," he said.

Parish will have a tough road ahead, as he'll face off against current PC Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips. Phillips won the 2018 seat with 39 per cent of the vote, beating out NDP candidate Monique Hughes who garnered almost 31 per cent. The Liberal candidate finished with nearly 26 per cent of the vote.

A New Democrat hasn't won in the area since Larry O'Connor in the Bob Rae era. The ridings that became the current Ajax riding have been solidly Liberal or Conservative for years, held by stalwarts like Joe Dickson and Jim Flaherty.

But 2018 was the closest the New Democrats have come in a long time, and Parish has had decades of political success in the area.

And Phillips is responsible for a sector that has seen thousands of avoidable deaths due to years of neglect and government decisions during the pandemic (many of which were made under his predecessor, Merrilee Fullerton). Whether voters will punish the minister for it remains to be seen.

"Remember, this is the guy that said he was in the basement of this house by the fire and a gingerbread house, when he was really down in St. Barts, while the rest of us were all locked down," Parish said.

Voters can expect to be reminded often of how Phillips lost his finance minister post after his lockdown vacation became public.

Horwath said she was not worried by the fact that Parish said he has only been a card-carrying New Democrat for "a few months," as they have similar values.

"The most important thing, I think, is to identify what kind of Ontario we all want to create and that we can all get behind," she said.

Parish's candidacy will be acclaimed Jan. 22, the NDP said.

Former Ajax mayor to run for NDP in 2022 against Rod Phillips

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