Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has officially registered to run for Ontario Liberal Party leader.
Crombie unveiled her "exploratory committee" weeks ago but made her candidacy Elections Ontario-official on Tuesday. She's expected to officially launch her campaign at a "special event" in Mississauga on Wednesday.
A recent Abacus Data poll for the Toronto Star showed Crombie with strong support out of the gate. She had the highest overall favourability numbers among Liberal voters, compared to Liberal MPs Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Yasir Naqvi, and Liberal MPP Ted Hsu.
"There's something about Bonnie," Jill Promoli, a 2022 Liberal candidate and member of Crombie's exploratory committee, told The Trillium in an interview a few weeks ago, when her leadership website went live.
Her supporters tout her as a prime candidate to rejuvenate the party, and a serious electoral threat to Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives. Her strength in Mississauga, and Peel region more generally, are a serious asset, they said.
Crombie has sold herself as a centrist Liberal. She briefly found herself in hot water when she told TVO in late May that she planned to "govern from right of centre" and that the Liberals had moved "much too far to the left." She later walked those comments back.
Ford has had hard words for Crombie in recent weeks.
"You can't put your butt on both sides of the fence," Ford said when Crombie's exploratory website launched.
He was criticizing her for focusing on her personal political agenda while the province plans the "largest change in the history of Mississauga and Peel," referring to the breakup of Peel Region by 2025.
"I'm going to take care of the people of Mississauga and Bonnie is going to be running around the province not worrying about the people of Mississauga," he said. "In my opinion, it's a real slap in the face to the residents there. I'll always be there, working for the folks there."
Despite that, Ford told Crombie to "bring it on."
"I think the best thing to do is she runs against me and we get a new mayor of Mississauga," the premier said.
Crombie doesn't have to step down from her seat atop Mississauga to run for Liberal leader.
Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman also bowed out from the race on Wednesday.
She dipped her toe into the race a few months ago.
"After many wonderful and insightful conversations with supporters and party members, I came to the conclusion that at this time, running for leadership is not the best way for me to serve my Don Valley West constituents, my colleagues, and the people of Ontario," she said in a release.
Her potential leadership bid focused on how the party needed to get ready for the next election.
"To do that, we need to return to a focus on economic growth as the way to improve quality of life for all; we need to use sound data and analysis to form our policies and decisions; and we need to ensure that we have a professional, well-resourced campaign to support our volunteers on the ground," the release said.
"Moving forward, I will be working hard to continue to bring this perspective to the party."
Bowman is a rookie MPP who took over the Don Valley West riding from former premier Kathleen Wynne in the 2022 election. She defeated former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, who is now running for mayor, to retain the seat for the Liberals.
Prior to entering politics, Bowman worked for decades in the financial industry. She was a partner and vice president at Ernst and Young, before moving into similar roles with CIBC and Scotiabank. She was also a board member of the Bank of Canada.
-With files from Jessica Smith Cross and Charlie Pinkerton
