Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie has chosen the riding she will run in for the province’s looming election.
Crombie told Global News Radio 640 Toronto Tuesday she will run in Mississauga East-Cooksville — a riding held by Kaleed Rasheed, a former Progressive-Conservative (PC) minister who left the party in 2023 over a Greenbelt-adjacent scandal.
Rasheed, now an independent MPP, said in October he would not be seeking re-election, but would stay on until the end of his term.
Crombie has been without a seat in Queen’s Park since her successful leadership bid for the Liberal Party in December 2023. Mississauga is familiar territory for Crombie, who served as the city’s mayor before stepping down to run for the Liberal leadership. Before her tenure as the city’s top elected official, Crombie was a city councillor and an MP for Mississauga-Streetsville.
Crombie will be hoping to poke a hole in the PC’s stronghold of Mississauga as the party holds five of the six provincial ridings in the city.
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“As the mayor, I loved every part of this city and it’s a real honour to be putting my name on a ballot to represent this great city once again,” she told Greg Brady on Toronto Today.
After months of speculation, Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed last week he would be calling an election for Feb. 27 — roughly a year-and-a-half before Ontarians would be required to go to the polls again.
Ford’s office said he will visit Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont Tuesday afternoon and ask her to end the legislature’s 43rd parliament.
Ford has said he needs a new mandate from the electorate in order to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on all imported Canadian and Mexican goods, citing border concerns.
Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner have all said calling an election more than a year early is a waste of time and money.
Ford says he plans to act in his capacity as premier, including visiting Washington, D.C., in February with a group of other premiers, while also campaigning as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.
Almost immediately after Ford visits Dumon Tuesday, he is set to participate in a virtual Council of the Federation call with the other premiers.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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