Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has officially registered to run for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party ahead of the official launch of her high-profile campaign.
According to Elections Ontario, Crombie filed her nomination papers on Tuesday, making her the fourth formal candidate in the race to lead the former governing party in Ontario, alongside Liberal MPs Nate Erskine-Smith and Yasir Naqvi and Ontario Liberal MPP Ted Hsu.
Crombie, who has invited supporters to a Mississauga college campus for a “special announcement” on Wednesday, is set to officially unveil her campaign with health care, education and affordability being highlighted as key issues.
“The Ford government has only made things worse through cutbacks and underfunding of key public services,” Crombie said in the event invitation.
“They have the wrong priorities for our province.”
When asked about her potential leadership campaign in May, Premier Doug Ford criticized Crombie for putting personal ambition ahead of the needs of Mississauga residents, but salivated at the idea of facing Crombie in a general election.
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“Bring it on,” Ford said on May 24. “Let’s get on with the show, run for leader and let’s make this thing happen.”
While Crombie is seen as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Kathleen Wynne and Steven Del Duca, her leadership opponents have also criticized her track record on housing in Mississauga and her push to move the party to the political centre-right.
In an interview with Global News, Crombie said the Liberal party under Wynne had shifted too far to the left in an effort to court NDP support and indicated she would move the party to the centre-right which she called the “secret sauce” to winning elections.
Crombie later claimed she misspoke after receiving backlash over the comments.
On Monday, Nate Erskine-Smith targeted Crombie over what he claimed “failed” to adequately address the city’s housing needs.
“Mississauga, for example, built less than 16,000 homes from 2012 to 2021, becoming the only major city in Canada to shrink during the last census,” Erskine-Smith said as he launched his own uncosted housing platform.
“The mayor of Mississauga brings a lot to this race. She does not bring a strong track record on building housing,” Erskine Smith said.
Crombie’s campaign pushed back, saying housing construction is at a 30-year high in Mississauga with 30 cranes in the sky — the second most in Canada behind Toronto, her campaign claimed.
The Ontario Liberal Party executive said candidates will have to pay an $100,000 entry fee and a refundable $25,000 deposit.
Liberals will pick the next leader using a ranked ballot vote on Nov. 25 and 26; the party is set to release round-by-round results on Dec. 2, the weekend after the vote.
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