Ontario Liberal leadership hopefuls gearing up campaigns

Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful Nate Erskine-Smith has scored a number of endorsements from provincial and federal MPs in a bid to build early momentum in the race to revive the former governing party.

Erskine-Smith, who currently serves as the Member of Parliament for Beaches—East York, was the first to officially launch his campaign on Monday and began rolling out endorsements almost immediately.

Among the politicians backing Erskine-Smith is Liberal MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon, one of the eight Liberals elected in the 2022 provincial election, as well as three backbench Liberal MPs.

McMahon’s endorsement is unsurprising, given that she and Erskine-Smith represent the same riding at different levels of government.

While Erskine-Smith is the first to enter, other candidates have been scaling up their leadership campaigns holding cross-provincial events, collecting supporter information and securing financial pledges for when they enter.

Rookie MPP Adil Shamji said his team is “charging forward” and will make an announcement “in due time.”

“I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think that I could win,” Shamji told journalists at Queen’s Park. “We do have a timeline, but I’m not ready to publicly disclose that yet.”

Liberal MPP Ted Hsu has been touring portions of northern Ontario this week as part of his leadership exploration campaign but has yet to reveal when he’ll officially file his papers with the Ontario Liberal Party.

Similarly, Liberal MP and former Ontario attorney general Yasir Naqvi has been in exploration mode but won’t say when a final decision about a leadership bid will be made.

Sources in Naqvi’s camp told Global News his team is working through the leadership process, submitting papers to Elections Ontario and waiting for the Liberal party to greenlight his candidacy before making a formal announcement.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who is strongly considering a leadership bid of her own, has been keeping a close watch on the leadership process.

Crombie, sources say, has representatives who attend confidential party leadership meetings on her behalf to get technical detail on the race.

While Crombie has yet to announce her candidacy, a source close to Crombie told Global News “she’s getting closer to a decision.”