Former Ontario NDP Premier turned federal Liberal leadership hopeful Bob Rae will attempt to return to Parliament by seeking the Grit nomination for Toronto Centre.

"To me, personally, it's about keeping a commitment that I made during the leadership campaign that I would run in the next election," he told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Wednesday.

"And it's also about participating in building a team ... I thought I contribute to that as the leader, but if I can't be the leader, I want to be part of the team. Just put me in, coach, that's all I'm saying."

That riding, currently held by former Liberal foreign affairs minister Bill Graham, is considered one of the safest and most highly coveted Liberal ridings in the country. Graham announced last month that he won't seek re-election.

Human rights advocate Meredith Cartwright is expected to challenge Rae for the nomination. Rob Oliphant, a United Church minister who had been expected to contest the nomination, has withdrawn.

Rae entered federal politics in 1978, winning election as an NDP MP in Broadview-Greenwood, now the riding of NDP Leader Jack Layton. He moved the confidence motion that toppled Joe Clark's Tory minority government in 1979, before moving to provincial politics in 1982.

From 1990 to 1995, Rae served as NDP premier of Ontario.

"I hope that with the kind of experience I've had both federally and provincially and the work that I've been doing in the private sector work - I did non-governmental work for the last 10 years - I think I can bring a lot to the table and I'm looking forward to it," Rae said.

Transit and Toronto politics

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in the Greater Toronto Area on Tuesday to announce $1.5 billion in transit and environmental funding.

Asked if that was a shot across the bow to GTA Liberals, Rae said: "No, I think it is what it is.

He noted that many of the people currently surrounding Harper, like Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, were part of the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris that succeeded his NDP regime.

"They were the people who killed the subways in 1995. The Tories spend nearly a hundred million dollars in Ontario filling up holes in the ground that were there to build the subways." Rae said his government started the subway expansion in 1994.

He described Flaherty's appearance at Tuesday's announcement as a "great irony."

The Tories are "way behind on the public and the green agenda, and they are responding to where they see opinion moving in the country," he said.

Rae said he's not worried about the latest polls, which have the Conservatives nine points ahead of the Liberals.

"I've seen polls go up and down. In my political life, I've seen good polls, I've seen bad polls. They come and go and they change," he told CTV earlier.

A Decima poll released last week put Conservative support at 36 per cent nationally, with the Liberals at 27 per cent -- down from the 30 per cent they earned in the last election.

Rae added that he believed that the Liberals, led by leader Stephane Dion, "have a chance to build an alternative to the Harper government."

"He's a man of tremendous determination and I think that should never be underestimated... No one should ever underestimate Stephane Dion. A lot of people did during the leadership race. I didn't."

He did think the Liberals might want to work harder to define Dion and the party, rather than let the Tories do it with attack ads.

Rae also took issue with the notion the Liberals are soft on the issues of crime and security. He cited legislation on biker gangs and gun control as two examples.

"Any party that wants to govern this country has to be ... tough on crime ... but you have to be tough on the causes of crime too."

Rae, who finished third in the Liberal leadership race, is one of three former leadership contenders without a seat in the House of Commons. The other two -- Martha Hall Findlay and Gerard Kennedy -- are also planning to run for the Liberals in Toronto in the next election.

Kennedy will seek the nomination in Parkdale-High Park, currently held by the NDP.

Hall-Findlay is expected to be the Liberal candidate in Willowdale. The riding incumbent, Jim Peterson, 65, has announced he will not seek re-election.

In Prince Edward Island, Liberal MP Joe McGuire announced he won't be seeking re-election. The 63-year-old has represented the Egmont riding for the past 19 years. He said the decision was personal and had nothing to do with the recent change in leadership.