Returning home to the Greater Toronto Area following a tour of Northern Ontario, Ontario Leadership candidate Bonnie Crombie said she gained various northern perspectives.
“Northern Ontario faces unique challenges that are being ignored by the Doug Ford government,” Crombie said in a media release issued this week.
“The North’s resilience and innovative economy are critical to Ontario’s growth and prosperity, yet the Ford Conservatives continue to fail the region.
“Access to healthcare continues to be a serious challenge and the cost of living continues to rise while Ford’s cronies in the GTA prosper. I shared one simple message with everyone I met: you have an ally in Bonnie Crombie and in the Ontario Liberal Party.”
Crombie has been mayor of Mississauga since 2014, and launched her Ontario Liberal leadership bid in June after the launch of an “exploratory committee” three weeks prior. She served as a Liberal MP from 2008 to 2011.
During her campaign launch, Canadian Press quoted her as saying the party needed to represent the entire province, rebuild their aging infrastructure and modernize it to compete, and raise money to “compete head-on with the other parties.”
Crombie’s tour of Northern Ontario included stops in Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay and Sudbury.
In a media release it’s noted she met with “Liberals, OLP organizers, Indigenous leadership, local mayors and community groups to seek input on how the Ontario Liberal Party can better address the distinct needs of the region.”
Hearing from Ontarians throughout the province “is the only way that we are going to create the right policies and plans to rebuild our party and ultimately our province,” she said.
Earlier this year, former Sudbury Ontario Liberal candidate David Farrow was elected as vice-president (organization) for the political party.
In April, Liberal MP and provincial leadership tire-kicker Nate Erskine-Smith visited Sudbury. He has since announced his official candidacy for Ontario Liberal leadership.
Other candidates include Ted Hsu, Yasir Naqvi and Adil Shamji.
The candidate registration deadline is Sept. 5, and the final day to join the Ontario Liberal Party as a member of a constituency association or women’s club and be eligible to vote in the leadership election is Sept. 11.
Party members will cast ranked ballots on Nov. 25-26.