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Voters in central London are likely to see a federal election rematch on their ballot following a city councillor’s sudden withdrawal from the Tory nomination race.

With the next federal election widely expected to be called as early as this week, Ward 4. Coun. Susan Stevenson says she is bowing out of the race for the Conservative nomination in the riding now known as London North Centre, a seat that will be renamed London Centre and redrawn slightly when newly-minted Prime Minister Mark Carney calls the election.

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“With a federal election seemingly around the corner, I want to share that I will not be proceeding in the nomination process for London Centre,” Stevenson wrote in a post on X.  “My focus will remain on our city and the changes that are urgently needed.”

Stevenson, who launched her Tory nomination bid in the Liberal-held riding late last year, didn’t disclose why she is no longer pursuing the Conservative nomination.

Her withdrawal from the Tory race leaves Stephen Gallant as the lone candidate for the nomination and likely to be acclaimed, setting up a repeat of the race in the last general election in which he ran against Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos, who is seeking re-election, and returning New Democrat candidate Dirka Prout.

The renamed and redrawn London Centre riding is one of several in the 10-riding London region where tweaks have been made that will take effect with the next election. Ridings are periodically redrawn, and sometimes renamed, to account for changes in population.

The new London Centre riding has Wortley Village added onto it, a neighbourhood grafted from the rejigged London West, and excludes the area north of Fanshawe Park Road, which falls in the new Middlesex-London riding.

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London Centre is the last district in the 10-riding London region to name a Tory candidate as speculation mounts about a snap election.

The House of Commons is scheduled to resume March 24, after former prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament early in January amid growing pressure by opposition parties to bring down his minority Liberal government and demands within his own party’s ranks that he resign to allow a new leader to take over.

Trudeau promptly announced he would step aside, setting up the Liberal leadership race won by former Bank of Canada governor Carney who took over as prime minister last week and brought in a new, slimmed-down cabinet that includes former London city councillor Arielle Kayabaga, a one-term London West MP. Kayabaga was named government House leader and minister of democratic institutions.

Carney is widely expected to plunge Canadians into a snap election as early as this week, not waiting for the scheduled resumption of the House of Commons.

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