The Ontario Liberal Party has asked Green Party leader Mike Schreiner to cross the aisle and run for the Liberal party leadership. Schreiner says he’s mulling over the idea.
This comes as local MPP Ted Hsu is eyeing a run for the provincial Liberal leadership.
“I was surprised,” Hsu said.
The Kingston and the Islands MPP says he was caught off guard following the news that 40 senior Liberals had sent a letter to Green Party leader Mike Schreiner to abandon the Greens and join the Liberals to run for their leadership.
“It is completely unprecedented. I haven’t seen anything like this before. Maybe if you go back to the last century you could find something,” Hsu said.
Hsu says he was not a part of this letter, as the 40 senior Liberals were made up of former candidates and cabinet ministers, among others.
Hsu believes this ploy to take Schreiner away from the Greens is not the right way forward for the Ontario Liberals.
“I think that this group of 40 did not need to look outside the party to the leader of another party to find the politics of principle and purpose,” Hsu said
Hsu has let it be known that he has been toying with the idea of throwing his hat in the ring to run for the leadership. He says he is waiting for the party to call the race before he says for sure officially.
“I myself am exploring the idea of running for leader of the Liberal party. It’s still early times, and it’s time to listen. I view this letter coming out as an opportunity to find out what people are thinking,” Hsu said.
Hsu says the leadership race likely won’t be called until the spring. So for now, the Liberals are still exploring their options at this critical point for the party, even if it means doing something unorthodox.
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