Date of publication: June 09, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 93 comments Liberal supporter Nathaniel Erskine-Smith looks during a press conference in Toronto on July 22, 2016. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS / Colin Perkel
Content of the article
OTAWA – Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskin-Smith says he is “seriously considering” running for the Ontario Liberal Party as the party begins rebuilding after two disastrous provincial election defeats.
Advertising 2
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“There is no doubt that I am interested in helping rebuild the party and I am seriously considering leadership,” Erskin-Smith said in an interview Thursday morning. “All of this is unquestionably true.” “I’m waiting late than later, I will have made a decision,” he added. Two sources with direct or indirect knowledge of the campaign told the National Post that the announcement of Erskine-Smith’s leadership could be made as early as the end of the week. The sources received anonymity to freely discuss the internal consultations. Erskin-Smith said the final decision would depend on getting the green light from his wife and two children. He also said he wanted to clarify some rules for the leadership race before jumping into the race.
Advertising 3
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“Understanding the timing of the match and the rules of the match is also important in terms of details and certain things with the family, because that could very well change things in terms of balance in our lives. “So it is possible that I will continue to explore the possibility until I have a better understanding of the rules.” Several sources told the National Post on Thursday that Erskine-Smith had already begun setting up a campaign group and communicating with other Liberal MPs and executives to launch a leadership bid as soon as possible. The Ontario Liberals were left in a state of disarray and without leaders after last week’s disastrous provincial election defeat that left the party with eight seats in Queen’s Park, just one more than it won in 2018. It was the second consecutive election that party failed elect several MPPs to retain the official party status and accompanying funding.
Advertising 4
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“I am very interested in the idea of helping to rebuild the party and the formation of the party and the participation of the Liberals from the grassroots,” he said. A source explained that Erskin-Smith’s campaign wants to be the first candidate to come out of the gate to create a “push movement”, a reference to a military maneuver in which forces drown opponents by siding with them from all sides. sides. The idea is to gather “staff and members of the parliamentary group to pinch important opponents in a timely manner” and give the MP a firm start to the campaign, they said. “The moment you go early, the moment people start helping you, you start taking pieces off the table and so you start denying the organizers and the money to other people,” the source said.
Advertising 5
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“If you wait too long, you deliver part of that momentum.” During an interview, Erskine-Smith agreed that there is a great benefit to being the first candidate to come out of the gates loud. However, he said he hoped leadership organizers would “take their time” and allow a bigger race to attract more candidates. “I believe that a bigger leadership race will encourage more people to participate and I think that can only be good for the party in terms of involving new people and rebuilding the base,” he said. “I think one lesson we learned from the last round is that you just do not want to rush into these things.” Erskin-Smith was first elected to the Beaches-East York MP in 2015, along with the Federal Liberals in the greater Toronto area.
Advertising 6
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Since then, the MP has become better known as one of the few “swindlers” within the Liberal bench who at times speaks openly – and even votes against – the party line. He apologized in 2017 when the Liberals abandoned their promise of electoral reform, voted against his party in 2019 in favor of letting the Ethics Commissioner testify in committee for a condemnation report on Justin Trinto, and said in a speech to Feuve that he was not convinced His government should have invoked the emergency law to deal with the Freedom of Speech. If he decides to run for the county leadership, Erskin-Smith did not say whether he would remain as a federal MP during the campaign. He said that “he has to understand how to do it and become a good dad and husband first before I understand these logistics”. Simply put, the equestrian area in the area, which bears the same name Beaches-East York, was one of the only new seats the Liberals won in last week’s election. A source said Erskine-Smith is good friends with the new Liberal MPP, Mary-Margaret McMahon. Erskine-Smith even hosted an event in support of McMahon on the eve of the last county election. One general has theorized that if Erskin-Smith resigned as MP and won the Ontario Liberal leadership, he could eventually indirectly try to “swap” seats with McMahon through elections.
Share this article on your social network
Advertising
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
NP Posted
Sign up to receive daily top stories from National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. By clicking the subscribe button you agree to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thank you for your registration!
A welcome email is on its way. If you do not see it, check the junk folder. The next issue of NP Posted will be in your inbox soon. We encountered a problem with your registration. PLEASE try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but political forum for discussion and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour to monitor before appearing on the site. We ask that you retain your comments regarding and with respect. We’ve enabled email notifications — you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, an update on a comment thread that follows, or if a user follows the comments. See the Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to customize your email settings.
