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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff recently spoke to a gathering of Ontario Liberals in an effort to form common cause. As The Globe and Mail's Adam Radwanski wrote at the time, Mr. Ignatieff’s appearance at the Windsor gathering underlined the awkward relationship between the Liberal Party’s federal and Ontario wings.

News that former Liberal deputy premier George Smitherman is running for mayor of Toronto is already complicating the Liberal family tree.

One of Mr. Ignatieff’s senior campaign strategists, Warren Kinsella, says today he intends to campaign for John Tory – should he run – as future mayor of Toronto, rather than Mr. Smitherman.

Mr. Tory is the former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.

The tip, tagged here this morning as “inside baseball,” was later confirmed by Mr. Kinsella via emails to The Globe and Mail.

“I'm still a Liberal, always will be, and - if John runs, and I hope he does - I will be one of the many card-carrying Grits who supports him,” he wrote.

He noted that he also supported Mr. Tory’s 2003 bid for mayor along with other Liberals including Bob Richardson, David Peterson, John Mraz, Brad Duguid and Monte Kwinter.

Mr. Kinsella also stated that he does not expect either Mr. Smitherman, nor Mr. Tory, to run as partisans.

“Lots and lots of Liberals, federally and provincially, admire John Tory,” he wrote. “He's a good and decent man. If he takes the plunge, I guarantee you that he will attract support right across the spectrum.”

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Update: Mr. Kinsella is clearly taking more than a passive interest in Mr. Tory’s yet-to-be-announced mayoralty campaign. The Liberal strategist’s Tuesday postings on his personal website are focused entirely on the mayor’s race. So far, there is no discussion of last night’s federal by-election results, which according to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, means his party has “a lot of work” ahead of them.