Wednesday May 24, 2023
Bonnie Crombie has announced her intention to run for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, saying she wants to bring the party back to the center.
She said Prime Minister Doug Ford's administration was "too far to the right, the opposition too far to the left." Steve Paikin, host of TVO's The Agenda, asked her on May 23 if liberals were “too left-wing, too woke? She answered simply, "Yes."
Crombie, a former Liberal MP and current mayor of Mississauga, said she is fiscally centrist, or even right-wing, but also "very socially progressive."
The Liberals will choose their new leader this fall. The next provincial election is scheduled for June 2026, giving the next Liberal leader a few years to build the party before competing for the premiership.
Other potential Liberal leadership contenders include Nate Erskine-Smith MP, Yasir Naqvi MP and Ted Hsu MP. Crombie said if other candidates present centrist platforms she can support, she may withdraw from the race and keep her position as Mississauga mayor.
Crombie said she "butts heads" with Ford but they remain "collegial". At a joint press conference in Mississauga on May 15, Ford said Crombie was a good partner in development projects.
Ford also announced at the conference the province's plan to split the Peel region into three separate cities — Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon — a move Crombie strongly supports.
Crombie says she would handle some things differently than Ford if she became prime minister.
She criticized Ford for introducing too much "private medicine". The Ford government has partnered with private clinics to reduce Ontario's backlog of surgeries.
Practices remain publicly funded, patients use their provincial health cards and do not pay out of pocket. Crombie said she would have to take a closer look at what it looked like. She said people were worried they would have to pay and that clinics might try to sell patients on surgeries.
Crombie has set up an "exploratory committee" whose members will meet with Ontarians to see if he has broad support in the province and help determine if he will actually run for the Liberal leadership. The committee includes former Liberal cabinet ministers Brad Duguid and Dwight Duncan and Kathleen Wynne's 2018 campaign co-chair Tim Murphy.
