Federal Transport Minister Tony Valeri says he's only interested in running as a candidate in one riding, thereby ensuring a nasty showdown between himself and former cabinet minister Sheila Copps for the Liberal party nomination in the next general election.

Appearing on CTV's Question Period, Valeri said he won't consider moving from the newly-created Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding, where Copps is the incumbent, to the neighbouring Niagara West-Glanbrook riding.

"I am not shopping for options here," Valeri said. "I'm not looking for another home somewhere. I am not running in any other riding."

The battle between Valeri and Copps emerged when five ridings in the Hamilton area were reduced to four due to population shifts. With five incumbent Liberal MPs, that meant a nomination fight somewhere.

Copps, the only Liberal to battle new Prime Minister Paul Martin for the party leadership until the very end of the race, has suggested that Martin is trying to push her out because she is further left-of-centre than the new PM.

Copps lives in the new riding, while Valeri does not, although more than half of his old riding is covered by the new one.

Speculation emerged in the past week that Copps was being courted to run as an NDP candidate instead, but she said she wants to remain a Liberal.

As for Valeri, he told Question Period he wants to run in Hamilton because of his personal history in the area.

"I want to represent an area that I was born in, that I went to school in," he said. "My family lives in Hamilton, I pay taxes in Hamilton, my kids go to school in Hamilton. I'm looking to ask the local people whether they want me to continue to represent them."

Valeri said he won't move to another riding if he loses the nomination battle to Copps.

"If I am not successful in this nomination, I will not run," he said. "I will be working with the Liberal Party, I will be looking to support Prime Minister Martin to continue to build this country."

Martin has said he will not intervene in any riding fights because he feels he has a responsibility to make sure such contests are even-handed.

But Jane Taber of The Globe and Mail told Question Period that she doesn't understand the riding battle between Copps and Valeri.

"I think it's terrible what's happening to Sheila Copps in the Hamilton area," she said. "I just do not get it. I think Valeri is after sort of the king of the mountain in Hamilton and he wants to be that political man."