{"id":809857,"date":"2026-08-11T08:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809857\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T08:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:24:09","slug":"ontario-liberal-leadership-hopefuls-take-on-doug-fords-economic-record-in-first-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809857\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Liberal leadership hopefuls take on Doug Ford\u2019s economic record in first debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

From left, Ontario Liberal Party leadership candidates Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi, Navdeep Bains, Stephanie Bowman and Dylan Marando before the Ontario Liberal leadership debate in Brampton, Ont., on Monday.Arlyn McAdorey\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The five Ontario Liberal Party leadership contenders faced off for the first time on Monday, pitching themselves as the best choice to take on Doug Ford as they criticized the Ontario Premier\u2019s economic record, as well as the state of the health care and education systems after his near-decade in office.<\/p>\n

The leadership race for the Liberals, who have been in third place provincially since 2020, has attracted former federal industry minister Navdeep Bains, as well as two Toronto MPPs, Lee Fairclough and Stephanie Bowman. The other two candidates are Dylan Marando, a former policy adviser to two premiers and a prime minister, and Eric Lombardi, a housing advocate. <\/p>\n

Liberal members will vote for the new leader in November. <\/p>\n

The Ontario Liberals have been in the political wilderness for almost a decade, replaced in government by Mr. Ford\u2019s Progressive Conservatives who took office in 2018 and have won three back-to-back majorities.<\/p>\n

But the former ruling party has shown signs of resurgence. Despite being without a leader since January, some polls have put the provincial Liberals neck-and-neck with the PCs. <\/p>\n

The debate, which was livestreamed on YouTube, covered topics such as taking on Mr. Ford, affordability measures and modernizing the party. The candidates argued that health care must remain public and cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program reversed, while lambasting the Ford government\u2019s takeover of multiple school boards and its multimillion dollar spending on advertisements promoting its own measures.<\/p>\n

But the contenders differed on whether the next leader \u2013 unlike the last two, Bonnie Crombie and Steven Del Duca \u2013 should hold a seat in the legislature, with Ms. Bowman and Ms. Fairclough arguing that being elected would bring gravitas to the role and would allow the new leader to hold Mr. Ford to account immediately.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bains, who served for six years in former prime minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s cabinet before leaving federal politics in 2021, is considered the front-runner. A former Rogers Communications executive, Mr. Bains has ties to Bay Street and significant political organizing experience.<\/p>\n

He drew on that resume Monday, saying he is best-placed to challenge the Premier\u2019s economic record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what people are looking for: someone who can take on Doug Ford on his, I would say, abysmal track record when it comes to the economy,\u201d he said, adding that health care and education are also good for the economy.<\/p>\n

In addition, he addressed his apparent front-runner status in the race: \u201cI learned long ago not to take anything for granted and work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Fairclough, a former hospital president and ex-national women\u2019s rugby player, drew on her health care experience and said her time at Queen\u2019s Park has also given her a wide breadth of knowledge about public finances.<\/p>\n

She pitched herself as ready to take on Mr. Ford. \u201cIt\u2019s time for serious government in Ontario. Unlike leaders of the last eight years, I have a seat, and I am a sharp contrast to Doug Ford,\u201d the first-term MPP from Etobicoke-Lakeshore said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Bowman, an accountant and former bank executive who was first elected in 2022, touted her experience in the financial sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a leader that understands the economy, that understands how business works, and how to partner with businesses. And that leader is me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Marando said he believes the public is turning against Mr. Ford, whom he accused of only caring about private jets and luxury hotels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe milk has soured on Doug Ford, and shortly it\u2019s going to be chunky. So our job is not to oppose, our job is to propose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lombardi, who pitched himself as the candidate of generational change, said the next leader needs to reach out to members from other political parties. \u201cVote for the candidate doing the most to expand our current party\u2019s tent so that we can win against Ford,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ford has struggled in recent months amidst controversies such as the decision to buy and then resell a $28.9-million private jet this spring, and a recent spending scandal that saw his former tourism minister resign from cabinet.<\/p>\n

Ontario Liberal members will vote for the leader online using a ranked ballot from Nov. 9 to 20, with the winner to be announced Nov. 21.<\/p>\n

Former leader Ms. Crombie resigned in January. The Ontario Liberals won 14 seats under her leadership, returning to official party status in the legislature, but she failed to win her own race in Mississauga. Ms. Crombie has now returned to municipal politics, running to be the mayor of Mississauga, a role she previously held for three terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: From left, Ontario Liberal Party leadership candidates Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi, Navdeep Bains,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2428,2416,2429,4,2408,2430,103,2407,2422,2423,2418,2409,2406,101,526,192,2421,2414,2441,2410,2411,2420,2417,149,983,2431,2413,2436,2437,2439,2434,2438,2432,2435,2412,2425,2426,111,2424,2433,79,2415,74,2427,2419,194,965,2440],"class_list":["post-809857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}