Timmins Mayor George Pirie running for the Progressive Conservatives

The Mayor of Timmins is hoping to trade his seat at city hall for one in Queen's Park.

George Pirie will be the city's Progressive Conservative candidate in the provincial election scheduled for the spring.

A retired mining executive, Pirie made his first foray into politics three years ago when he took down incumbent mayor Steve Black.

Next year, he will attempt to unseat New Democrat stalwart Gilles Bisson.

"Every mayor deserves to have a partner at Queen's Park. And really and truly that's why I'm here," says Pirie.

"I want to be an advocate for all the people of Timmins, for all the very, very important issues we have within the City of Timmins."

Bisson was first elected in 1990 when Timmins was in a riding called Cochrane South. Over the last 21 years, as the riding changed from Timmins-James Bay tojust Timmins in the last election, the result has not changed much.

No challenger has come within 2,000 votes of Bisson in eight elections.

"I really don't know what their previous approach was, all I know is I will work as hard as I possibly can to advocate for the City of Timmins," says Pirie.

The Timmins riding is made up of just the City of Timmins and with some32,000 eligible votersis the third smallest riding in Ontario.

Pirie says he will temporarily step away from his mayoral duties when the writ drops to signal the start of the provincial campaign in the spring.

"Being transparent with the fact that I am running and I am the mayor," he says.

"But nothing changes from the point of view of how I deal with the issues within the City of Timmins."