Spacious lawns, two-car garages, the countryside at your doorstep - all hallmarks of the average bedroom community, but not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of downtown Toronto.

But mayoral hopeful George Smitherman says the city has become, for many, a place to rest one's head each night before commuting beyond its borders to work the next day.

The longtime member of provincial parliament told a crowd of about 400 at a Toronto Board of Trade luncheon Friday that the city was experiencing a "growth gap" between the number of jobs it was creating and the number of people settling in the city.

"For the first time in our history, Toronto is emerging as the bedroom community to jobs that exist in the outer ring that lies just beyond our city's limits," Smitherman said.

"We can celebrate new condo construction, and we can embrace the sound principle of intensification. But celebration is hollow if our people are commuting clear out of town."

Smitherman, who stepped down in November as Ontario's energy and infrastructure minister, made the comments at what organizers called the unofficial start of the mayoral race.

The 45-year-old is the only politician with a province-wide profile to have declared a definite intention to seek the job of outgoing Mayor David Miller.

The race - which does not officially get underway until the new year - has drawn interest from a number of well-known names, however, including former Progressive Conservative leader John Tory, who previously lost to Miller in 2003.

Ex-Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray had also mulled a run at the job, but decided earlier this month he would instead seek the Liberal nomination in Smitherman's downtown riding of Toronto Centre.

On Friday, Smitherman played up what he called his "record of results" during his decade at Queen's Park. The former health minister drew attention to his work on the government's wait-time reduction strategy for procedures like hip replacements and cataract surgery and, as energy minister, his oversight of the "largest commitment of stimulus in Ontario's history."

But he didn't let the crowd lose sight of his Toronto roots.

"I'm a truck driver's son who became a small businessman ... a gay man who gained acceptance because of this city's enormous generosity," he said.

"But most important of all, I am a Torontonian. And I know our city can be a great economic power, provided we summon equally great political will."

If elected, Smitherman will inherit a city that as of July 2009 had an unemployment rate of 10.7 per cent, its highest since 1994, according to a Statistics Canada labour force survey.

Smitherman acknowledged that number Friday, and said his "principal challenge" would be to find a way to create jobs as the city's population climbs, although he provided few concrete proposals on how that would be accomplished.

Pointing to the "fragmented" transit network connecting Toronto with nearby cities like Brampton and Mississauga, Smitherman said Canada's largest city needs to regard itself as "an economic region that encompasses not just Toronto, but its surrounding cities and municipalities."

The would-be mayor also referred to a November study by the Geneva-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that pegged the annual cost of Toronto's traffic congestion to Canada's economy at more than $3 billion.

"It is a literal drag on the growth and the pace of growth," Smitherman said.

Smitherman promised he would set an "agenda for decisive change" if voters chose him to take the city's reins.

"Leaders should lead. The mayor and city councillors cannot be afraid to take new directions and establish new policies," he said.

"Better that a politician risk his or her job than an idea that might create jobs for Ontarians - and Torontonians especially - be overlooked."

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