Bonnie Crombie will be taking a leave from her job as mayor of Mississauga to focus on the Ontario Liberal leadership race, Global News has learned.
Crombie filed her papers with Elections Ontario back in June, officially throwing her hat into the race to lead the Ontario Liberal Party.
The party was left without a leader after Stephen Del Duca resigned from the post in June 2022, following the provincial election. John Fraser has acted as the party’s interim leader since August 2022.
The party is set to choose a new 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.
Crombie was elected mayor of Mississauga in 2014, and won re-election in the 2018 and 2022 municipal elections.
Global News reached out to the City of Mississauga for more information but did not hear back by publication.
The Ontario PC Party reacted to the move saying in a statement “it’s clear Bonnie only sees being mayor as a backup plan rather than what it is: a full-time job.”
“She’s hedging her bets on becoming leader of the Ontario Liberals when she should be serving the people of Mississauga,” a spokesperson for the Ontario PC Party said.
Crombie is running against Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Ted Hsu, Yasir Naqvi and Adil Shamji.
The candidates are scheduled to participate in the race’s first debate on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
— with files from Global News’ Colin D’Mello