Steeves not seeking former city seat

Former Winnipeg city councillor Gord Steeves, who left council this year to launch an unsuccessful run for provincial politics, says he will not be vying for his old civic seat.

Steeves stepped down this summer as the councillor for St. Vitala ward he had represented for 11 years to run as a Progressive Conservative candidate in Winnipeg's Seine River riding.

However, he failed to capture the seat from NDP incumbent Theresa Oswald in the Oct. 4 election.

A week after the election, Steeves said on Tuesday that it would not be right for him to run in acivic byelectiontotry to get back his former council seat.

"I don't really feel like if I went back and I was elected that I would have my 100 per cent heart into it," he told CBC News.

"That wouldn't be fair to the people of St. Vital. I don't want to do that to them. They've been great to me throughout the years."

Steeves, a lawyer, said he is back at his law firm for now, but he hopes to make a decision by January about his future direction.

Not ruling anything out

He added that he loves politics and is not ruling out a return to politics, including the possibility of seeking the PC party leadership.

"It's certainly not something I plan on doing at the moment, but I'm not ruling anything out. I'm just not prepared to rule anything in or rule anything out," he said.

"I can almost guarantee I'll be back involved in politics at some stage. [I] love it, and I would never stay away from it," he added. "I'll probably start right away in terms of just being involved in party politics or just as a volunteer doing those sort of 'behind the scene' things."

Current PC Leader Hugh McFadyen has indicated that he willstep down as party leader, in light of his party's disappointing showing in the election.