In 1971 during her last term as mayor she made the surprising announcement that she wished to run as a Liberal in the next provincial election. She was nominated as the Liberal candidate in the riding of York East. She said she ran because she was frustrated by the way the Conservative government was treating municipalities. She said "The municipalities can't go on taking more and more responsibilities and having less and less resources given them by a provincial government which is as whimsical as a 15-year-old girl with her first beau." During the election campaign she received a lot of press coverage but it focused on her age (then 70) and a certain perceived parochial attitude. Her small town persona carried well in the municipal world, but did not translate well to provincial politics. She lost badly to the Conservative incumbent Arthur Meen.