Toronto city councillor Howard Moscoe, seen in this 1999 photo, has announced he won't seek re-election this year. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Veteran Toronto city councillor Howard Moscoe is calling it quits.

After 32 years on North York and Toronto councils, Moscoe confirmed on Tuesday that he won't run for re-election in the Oct. 25 election. His time in municipal politics has come to an end, he said.

"It's the best job in the world," Moscoe told CBC News from Iqaluit, where he's attending a conference. "You can say outrageous things, and CBC phones you and gets you to repeat them."

Moscoe intended to release the news on Wednesday in a letter to residents of Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence, but word leaked out on Tuesday.

The longest serving councillor was chair of the Toronto Transit Commission for many years, as well as chair of the city's licensing and standards committee.

Moscoe said he will miss municipal politics, which he called the most democratic form of government in the country.

"In municipal government, we have to come to compromises on every single issue," he said. "Everything is debated in public and worked out, and so, it is the most democratic and the most functional form of government."

Always a colourful character, the 70-year-old Moscoe said last week he doesn't think fellow councillor Rob Ford will be successful if he wins the mayoral race.

"He won't be able to pass gas without permission of the council," Moscoe said.

Moscoe's legacy will be the revitalization of the Lawrence Heights public housing complex near Lawrence Avenue West and Allen Road — a project he championed and which passed council this year.

Moscoe is reportedly endorsing Josh Colle, the son of Liberal MPP Mike Colle, as his replacement in the riding.