Will former mayor of Mississauga Bonnie Crombie run for MPP seat in Milton?
Published February 8, 2024 at 5:31 pm
Former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie’s name has been tossed about lately in political circles by those wondering if Ontario’s new Liberal Party leader will take a run at a vacated MPP seat in an upcoming Milton byelection.
Parm Gill, former MPP in Milton and one-time Brampton MP (2011-15), resigned on Jan. 25 from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet to take another run at a federal seat in Ottawa.
His unexpected departure leaves the valuable provincial seat in the swing riding open and Ford must call a byelection within six months to fill the vacancy.
There has been widespread speculation the past two weeks that the former mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city, who left Mississauga in mid-January to take the reins of the Liberals at Queen’s Park, might throw her hat into the ring in the Milton byelection.
While Crombie hasn’t said anything definitive on that front, she is reportedly interested in finding an available provincial seat if it makes sense to do so.
Differing opinions exist as to whether running in Milton would be a good move, politically, for the former three-term Mississauga mayor who succeeded Hazel McCallion in that seat in 2014.
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Additionally, some believe she might better serve the Liberal Party if her time was focused entirely on leading the crew as it took aim at toppling Ford in the next election instead of taking on MPP duties as well.
Crombie assumed the lead position for the provincial Liberals after her victory in early December. She completed her duties as Mississauga mayor before stepping down from that post on Jan. 12.
Mississauga is now preparing for a mayoral byelection, with voters to choose a new mayor on June 10.
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