Bonnie Crombie won’t step down as Mississauga mayor as she prepares to run for Ontario Liberal Party

Bonnie Crombie says she will not be stepping down as mayor of Mississauga as she prepares to run for leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.

The long-time mayor of the city west of Toronto confirmed Monday she has formed an “exploratory committee” to look into a leadership bid for the provincial Liberals.

She has held the top job in Mississauga since 2014 and was a federal Liberal Member of Parliament from 2008 to 2011.

Speaking to CP24 Tuesday morning, Crombie indicated that she will not be resigning her commission to run for provincial leadership. Instead she will dedicate time in the evenings and on weekends to her campaign.

“I will be there for the critical, critical decision-making. And when I need to step up as mayor (for) the city of Mississauga, I will be there,” Crombie said.

Crombie acknowledged that if she wins and becomes the next Ontario Liberal Party leader, she would be leaving her city to transition to a new style of governance under the helm of a new mayor. At that point, either a by-election would be held or city council could choose to rotate the position, Crombie added.

“I've been speaking to people and they said to me … if you are the one who can make a difference and take that strong fiscal management style that you have, the transparency, the accountability that you operate with in Mississauga, apply that across the province to other municipalities, then we would support you going forward,” she said.

Overall, Crombie said she would focus her leadership run on “addressing what’s broken” in Ontario.

“Our health-care system is broken. Our education system, our educators are broken. The download into municipalities of course, that's something I face day-to-day as the mayor of the third largest city in Ontario, it has to stop,” she said on Tuesday.

News of Crombie exploring a bid for leader of the Ontario Liberals comes just days after Mississauga’s newfound independence was announced.

Last week the Doug Ford government announced the dissolving of Peel Region, effectively making Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon single-tier cities in the next two years.

This was something Crombie campaigned on in October 2022 and has long supported along with her predecessor Hazel McCallion.

In October 2022, she was re-elected for a third term as Mayor of Mississauga with more than 77 per cent of the vote. A large part of her re-election campaign centered around splitting away from Peel Region.

MPP TED HSU JOINS THE RACE

Only two candidates have officially filed their paperwork to run for leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith became the first person to register earlier this month.

On May 20, MPP for Kingston and the Islands Ted Hsu put his hat in the race.

Hsu has represented his riding since 2011 and has served as critic for energy, mines, natural resources and forestry as well as citizenship and multiculturalism.

He has worked in a number of different sectors prior to going into public service. According to his website, he spent 10 years in science research before working as a finance executive and the executive director of a sustainable energy association.

A number of other high-profile Liberals have hinted they may run for leader of the provincial party, including MPPs Stephanie Bowman, and Adil Shamji. Federal MP Yasir Naqvi is also exploring a bid.