T..O. ...P.O.

As near as I can figure, there are fourteen  provincial ridings in Toronto.
It means fourteen riding associations battle for votes in a provincial election. 
The NDP holds three  seats. Conservatives have a couple. The rest are Liberal.
Imagine the numbers. 
Toronto's Mayor has to be elected at large over an area and a population , multiplied fourteen times that of a provincial M.P.P.
or the Premier himself.
George Smitherman was the only candidate likely to give Rob Ford a run for the money in the last Mayoralty contest.
The key has to be organisation, money and  campaign platform. 
Smitherman had the Liberal machine for sure. 
Did Rob Ford have the Conservative machine? I don't know. But my guess would be yes.
Not even the Prime Minister of Canada has to win  his seat in a riding the size of Toronto- at- large.
So, as  we listen to various parties like  Adam Vaughan and Shelley Carrol castigate the Mayor for  lack of leadership while  indicating their own interest in the Mayor's chair, the reality behind the braggadocio is nowhere near so simple.
Smitherman with the Liberal machine, in a mostly Liberal holding, couldn't do it. 
John Tory, an outstanding personality and a Conservative couldn't take it from David Miller. 
John Tory won the Conservative leadership since. A member in a safe riding stepped aside to create a vacancy for him to  have a seat.
He lost a safe seat for the Conservatives.
riding voters  made a  decision about whether they could be used that way by city slickers.
I digress.
Olivia Choy could be a formidable candidate against Ford.
She would have the N.D.P. machine.Maybe. 
NDP stronghold is in three inner city ridings. 
Thomas Mulchair needs her. The N.D.P. are the official opposition. 
Ottawa  must be a cold and empty place for her now.
She is a veteran of Toronto politics. 
But definitely left-leaning. 
She would be a valid rival for Ford. 
It would make the fight interesting.
But by no means, a foregone conclusion.