Ontario Liberals set to pick byelection candidate amid jabs in nomination race

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith arrives for a meeting of the Liberal caucus, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sunday, May 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

TORONTO — An Ontario Liberal nomination race that has seen some candidates trade jabs and question others’ community bona fides is set to culminate Saturday with members selecting their pick for an upcoming byelection.

The riding of Scarborough Southwest is vacant provincially, after the former representative successfully made the jump to federal politics. A byelection has not yet been called, but the jockeying for the Liberal nomination has been well underway.

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who currently represents the neighbouring riding of Beaches-East York, has arguably faced the most scrutiny as he has made no secret of wanting to run a second time for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, a post that is also vacant.

“While I ran for the leadership in 2023 without a seat, just by happenstance ... there’s going to be a byelection in basically my backyard,” said Erskine-Smith, suggesting he would not try to displace the current Liberal member of the provincial parliament for Beaches-East York, his friend Mary-Margaret McMahon.

But it is the “backyard” nature of his candidacy that has raised the hackles of some other candidates, who accuse Erskine-Smith of trying to use Scarborough Southwest as a mere springboard for his leadership bid.

“I don’t think that it’s up for debate,” said fellow nomination contestant Qadira Jackson. “He has explicitly said that he ran here so that he can have a seat to run for leader.”

Erskine-Smith announced his bid for the Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough Southwest hours after the federal Liberals named the provincial NDP representative for the riding, Doly Begum, as their candidate in a byelection at that level.

Jackson, who faced off against Begum in the 2025 provincial election as the Liberal candidate for Scarborough Southwest, said most of the time previous candidates don’t face a nomination battle when they want to run again.

“But having said that, while I prefer to simply be the candidate and continue being the candidate as the immediate past candidate, I’m proud to be part of a party that upholds a fair democratic process,” said Jackson, a lawyer.

Jackson and fellow nomination candidate Ahsanul Hafiz have agreed to put each other second on the ranked ballots, she said.

“My No. 1 goal is to have a local candidate,” Jackson said. “I don’t want my riding to be used as a tool.”

Erskine-Smith said there is a lot of shared community between Beaches-East York and Scarborough Southwest, and if he is nominated as the Liberal candidate and then elected to serve the riding, he will work hard to get to know all of the pockets of Scarborough Southwest.

Questions of residency are not a factor in the nomination race, he said.

“On the ground, not even a little bit,” Erskine-Smith said, chalking any fervour up to “petty attack politics.”

“It frustrated me to be accused of being outside of the riding when the person doing the accusing has not been part of the riding for his entire life,” he said.

Fellow nomination candidate Ahsanul Hafiz has been based in London, Ont., for much of his career owning Domino’s Pizza stores but now has a home in Scarborough, where he landed when he first arrived in Canada nearly 25 years ago, he said.

“I only think about local politics because I am not thinking in a broader way right now at this point,” Hafiz said about Erskine-Smith’s planned leadership bid.

“So maybe ... his thought process is different, but the only thing I’m concentrated (on) and I am thinking about is my local issues and how I can do better for the local people, that’s it. I’m not thinking about (it) for myself.”

Mahmuda Nasrin, an immigration consultant who is also vying for the nomination, said it’s good there is so much interest in the race and believes all candidates have positive intentions for Scarborough Southwest.

“But at the same time, I think that our Liberal members are also very conscious,” she said.

“They will decide ... who actually knows the problems or struggles, or who are going to really provide the time that’s needed to be the MPP full time.”

Along with Erskine-Smith, other candidates exploring Liberal leadership bids include caucus members Lee Fairclough and Rob Cerjanec, former federal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains, and housing advocate Eric Lombardi, the interim leader has said. Former political staffer Dylan Marando was the first to officially enter the race last month.

The winner will succeed Bonnie Crombie, who resigned earlier this year, and will be the party’s fourth leader since 2018.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said while there’s “a lot of rub” in this nomination race, it’s not unusual to see.

“It’s a regular, everyday nomination,” he said. “The thing is, normally, people aren’t watching nominations.”

Whoever wins the nomination will turn their focus toward a byelection, which has to be called by August. The NDP has nominated Fatima Shaban, who has run for the federal NDP previously in that riding. The Progressive Conservatives have not yet nominated a candidate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press