Ontario Liberal Bonnie Crombie waves onstage after winning 57 per cent of the votes in a leadership review vote at the Ontario Liberal Party annual general meeting on Sunday.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Bonnie Crombie says she has enough support to continue as Ontario Liberal leader after members narrowly voted against holding a leadership contest in a result that left the third-place party divided and Ms. Crombie’s political future uncertain.
The results of the vote, announced Sunday at a downtown Toronto hotel, were 57 per cent against holding a leadership contest and 43 per cent in favour of having one.
While Ms. Crombie technically cleared the threshold required to remain leader, the result is short of the two-thirds level of support some said Ms. Crombie would need to hold the confidence of the party.
After the results were announced, Ms. Crombie acknowledged that the outcome was disappointing but argued that holding a leadership race less than two years after she was chosen to lead the Liberals would “do more harm than good for our party.”
Earlier: Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie confident ahead of leadership review
“It’s not the number I wanted, but it is not the finish line for me,” Ms. Crombie said in brief remarks after the results were announced, to cheers of “Bonnie.”
“It tells me we have a lot of work to do.”
Ms. Crombie, who does not hold a seat in the Ontario legislature, said she met with her caucus Sunday and, “I have the support I need to continue.” She said she would be meeting with the party’s executive council later on Sunday as well.
“Today’s results is a message to me, and I’m listening,” she said.
The results seemed to catch members of Ms. Crombie’s team off-guard. The party cancelled a planned media availability with Ms. Crombie following the announcement.
More than 2,000 delegates attended the weekend meeting, where they were asked whether they wanted to launch a leadership contest within the next year.
People await the delayed results of the Liberal leadership review vote on Sunday.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Some Liberals – including Ms. Crombie’s closest rival in the 2023 leadership contest, MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith – suggested the minimum threshold of support for the party leader should be 66 per cent, pointing to political precedents.
The weekend’s meeting happened in the wake of the February snap election, which saw Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives win a third majority. Ms. Crombie inherited a party that has struggled since losing government in 2018.
Under her leadership, the party saw its vote share grow to 30 per cent and won five additional seats in the February vote for a total of 14 – enough to regain official party status, which comes with more resources in the legislature.
But Ms. Crombie, a former three-term mayor of Mississauga, lost her bid for a seat in that city.
Liberal MPP John Fraser, who attended the meeting, said Ms. Crombie met with her caucus Sunday before the results were announced publicly.
He said the MPPs “expressed their opinions” and told her what they thought, and also offered support and told her she needs to make her own decision.
“Nobody told her, ‘This is what you have to do,’” he said in an interview.
He said there didn’t seem to be much division on the floor of the convention and that his view is that whatever happens, the party will be okay.
“There’s work to do, right? None of this is ever easy,” he said.
Following the results, Liberal members attending the convention were divided on whether Ms. Crombie should stay on as leader.
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Ayden Layng, a delegate from Kingston who interns with Mr. Erskine-Smith, said the results of Sunday’s vote show that Ms. Crombie does not have a clear mandate from the party.
“I hope that we can come out of this and beat Doug Ford, but I don’t think Bonnie Crombie is going to be our person to do it,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be tenable for her to remain in the position she’s decided to be in.”
Yanick Proulx, a delegate from the Nickel Belt, said he still supports Ms. Crombie and wants her to stay. He blamed Mr. Erskine-Smith for sowing division in the party but acknowledged the 2025 election results were frustrating for many.
He called the leadership vote “a disappointing win.”
“I do think she can survive, it’s just she needs to listen to the members. She has done a lot of work since the election,” he said.
Liberal strategist Andrew Perez, who supports Ms. Crombie, said he’s concerned a leadership race would hurt the party’s efforts to unseat Mr. Ford in the next election.
“Obviously if a party is plunged into internecine warfare that can create issues. But if the caucus is behind Bonnie, which I believe they will be, I think there’s a path for her to move forward,” he said.
One group pushing for change, New Leaf Liberals, has been advocating for a new leader since the spring. Nathaniel Arfin, a long-time party member who volunteered with Mr. Erskine-Smith’s leadership campaign, said he believes Ms. Crombie will now make the best decision in the interest of the party.
“I do not think Bonnie Crombie has the full support of the party,” he said. “And I think that she will recognize that.”