Ontario Liberals prepare for another leadership election. Who’s in?

As Ontario’s Liberal party prepares to call its third leadership race in five years, organizers are bracing for an internal battle over who should face Doug Ford in the next provincial election in 2029.

On Sunday evening, after scraping through a leadership review with 57 per cent of the vote and initially promising to fight on, Bonnie Crombie announced she would be stepping down as leader but will stay on until her successor was chosen.

As the party prepares for a leadership race Crombie had warned would be expensive and divisive, a range of Liberals could throw their hats into the ring.

The former three-time mayor of Barrie could be the earliest contender to jump into the leadership race.

Jeff Lehman, who was spotted at the Liberal annual general meeting sporting a “no” button and said he would vote in favour of Crombie, is now “strongly considering” entering the Liberal leadership race.

A source close to Lehman told Global News a decision could be made in the coming week.

While Etobicoke has long been viewed as a stronghold for Premier Doug Ford and his family, Yvan Baker has been a constant Liberal presence. Baker first represented Etobicoke Centre in 2014 before switching to federal politics in 2019 and winning three straight elections in the same riding.

Baker, a source said, “has been approached and encouraged to run, but hasn’t ruled it out.”

The current MP supported Crombie during her leadership and has been considered a potential leadership candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the past.

Nate Erskine-Smith, the former federal housing minister and now Toronto MP without a role in Mark Carney’s government, is also a possible candidate for the leadership.

While Erskine-Smith denied any direct involvement in Crombie’s leadership battle, his supporters were viewed as the chief agitators for a leadership election. Erskine-Smith was seen wearing a “yes” button indicating his support for a leadership race.

In the 2023 leadership race, Erskine-Smith was the last candidate standing against Crombie and almost beat her. In the final round, she won just over 52 per cent of the vote and he received a little under 48 per cent.

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Lately, Erskine-Smith has been posting slickly produced videos to his social media criticizing Premier Doug Ford, most recently asking, “What do we want from our politics?”

A Trudeau-era cabinet minister, Karina Gould, was re-elected in April as the MP for Burlington. Liberal sources indicate Gould has been gauging support for a potential leadership bid.

On Sunday night, she thanked Crombie for her contributions to the party.

“Bonnie Crombie helped revive the spirit and fight of the Ontario Liberal Party and she built a strong team along the way,” she wrote.

Primary care physician Dr. Andrew Boozary might not be a household name, but in Liberal political circles, he’s considered a “fresh voice” who, sources said, has been receiving encouragement to run.

Sources who have spoken with Boozary since Crombie’s decision tell Global News he is “seriously considering” a run for leadership.

Boozary, along with the University Health Network, recently spearheaded a new supportive housing project in Toronto that allows physicians to prescribe a home as health care intervention.

After serving as Carney’s interim chief of staff, Marco Mendicino has been viewed as a potential candidate for Toronto mayor or Ontario Liberal leader.

While Mendicino’s name has been raised as a potential candidate in the leadership race, sources told Global News the chances are low and that the former Eglinton-Lawrence MP is focused on family and the private sector.

Former minister of innovation, science and industry Navdeep Bains has been out of politics since 2021 and now serves as an executive for Rogers Communications.

Bains has consistently been named as a potential candidate in a leadership race, but has yet to publicly say whether he’ll jump into the race.

Adil Shamji was a relatively new face to politics when he threw his hat into the ring to lead the Ontario Liberals in 2023. The emergency room physician eventually dropped out to support Crombie and shaped her health care-focused platform for the latest election.

Shamji told Global News he had not made a final decision on whether or not he would run again.

Rob Cerjanec managed to pull off one of the few upsets during the 2025 provincial election, defeating Patrice Barnes to take over the riding of Ajax for the Liberals. Cerjanec now serves as the Liberal critic for Economic Development & Innovation, Tourism, Sport & Culture.

Cerjaned confirmed that he is “being encouraged by some in the party to run” but isn’t willing to “rush into a decision.”

“It’s important that we, as Ontario Liberals, take a step back and listen to one another on a path forward,” Cerjanec told Global News. “That’s what I’m doing right now.”

Ted Hsu ran against Crombie in the 2023 leadership race, promising a “fresh start” for the party after defeat under former leader Steven Del Duca. Hsu has represented Kingston and the Islands at both the provincial and federal levels.

He has a physics PhD and masterminded the party’s unsuccessful efforts to stall out the Progressive Conservatives’ Bill 5 in the spring by tabling thousands of amendments.

Hsu said he is “thinking and trying to decide” whether to jump in.

Other candidates who have declined so far include Vince Gasparro, MP for Eglinton-Lawrence, former attorney general Yasir Naqvi, former interim leader John Fraser and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, who was once courted to run for the Liberals.

While the party has yet to set any timelines for a possible leadership, the most recent election could serve as a template. Candidates were required to put down a $100,000 registration fee and needed 250 signatures in support of their bid before asking supporters for their votes.

“We’re expecting a robust race already getting some people that are jumping in enthusiastically,” Liberal Party President Kathryn McGarry told Global News. “I’ve had a couple of letters already from people who are looking at putting their name forward.”

McGarry said a leadership election date won’t be revealed for a few more weeks as the party works to “iron out the details.”

“We have to pull a group together, look at the rules of procedure, decide on how that’s going to look. That’s going to take some weeks. And then once we have decided on all of the details, then Executive Council will then approve the rules of procedure and we’ll go from there,” McGarry said.