It's time for Liberals to turn a new leaf on Bonnie Crombie.

If she stays, I have to go.

On May 31^st, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party Bonnie Crombie speaks to the Ontario Liberals’ Provincial Council at a post-election meeting. In the past weeks, she has been organizing convince Liberals to let her keep her job in September’s Leadership Review vote, which is binding. | Copyright © Ontario Liberal Party, licensed under fair dealing.

It’s no secret that I don’t like Bonnie Crombie, and did not believe she would be a good leader for the Ontario Liberal Party. I volunteered with Nate Erskine-Smith’s leadership campaign and I will say outright, I believe he would have led to a much better seat count than Crombie did.

I criticized Crombie before the writ even dropped. Then I pointed out that she did so poorly in the 2025 Ontario Provincial Election, it is simply untenable for her to remain leader. And then, I spoke in vague terms about which kind of person I would like to replace her.

And then I spoke in more explicit terms, pointing out that if Crombie does lose the Leadership Review vote at September’s AGM, both Nate Erskine-Smith and Karina Gould may find the prospect of a run appealing, considering Prime Minister Carney has completely screwed them over for the crime of having principles.

So I won’t go on at length about a subject for which I have authored several tomes. Liberals want to win elections, and Bonnie Crombie is a loser who can’t even win her own seat, in the city where she was mayor.

I am no longer alone in saying such things publicly. There are now many Liberals who are in open agreement that staying on this course with Crombie will kill the Ontario Liberal Party.

So let me introduce you to my friends, the New Leaf Liberals. They’re going to be giving you folks something entertaining to watch over the next three months.

How things work in the Ontario Liberal Party is that at the Annual General Meeting following an election, the leader is subject to a binding Leadership Review vote by the delegates present at the convention. Technically, as long as she gets 50%+1 of the delegate votes, she can remain leader.

But the New Leaf Liberals have made their core demand that Bonnie gain a two-thirds majority (66%) if she wishes to remain in her position. That isn’t binding in any way, but in my opinion it’s good strategy for Crombie’s opponents to shape the rhetoric and expectations around a higher standard, and to be frank you do not want a leader who only half the party likes.

The more important demand, however, is that Crombie’s team not rig the vote by filling vacant delegate positions across the province with loyalists. While leadership contests are now one-member one-vote, AGMs are still delegated conventions.

Each riding association may send a maximum of 15 delegates, three of whom must be under the age of 26, and at least three men and women each. Each Ontario Young Liberal university or college club may send 5 delegates. Every women’s club gets 2 delegates, and every regional committee of the party’s Rural and Northern Commission gets 3 delegates.

There are also various ex-officio delegates who automatically get to attend and vote based on holding or having held various roles, such as current party executives, current and former Liberal MPs and MPPs, and former federal and provincial party presidents.

The problem the New Leaf Liberals articulate, and that I agree with, is that frequently the leader’s office will fill empty delegate positions in the least active ridings by taking people from ridings with more than 15 people seeking to be a delegate, and slotting them into the vacancies. Normally this occurs because they simply want as many delegates to attend as possible, but it can be used for more malicious purposes.

Obviously, it creates a problem in that Crombie can fill vacant delegate slots with people she knows will vote for her, and not people who have put their full name on the New Leaf Liberals petition—people, for example, like myself! Delegates for a riding should be filled with people from that riding.

I think the demands of the New Leaf Liberals are more than reasonable, and it’s probably no surprise to many of my readers that I have been involved with the effort, and maintain active conversation with those more deeply involved in the campaign.

There are many people who have tagged themselves on, and despite rumours that this is merely a proxy fight waged by Nate Erskine-Smith supporters from Beaches—East York, they are not the primary organizing force, even though they make up many signatures on the petition.

That would be people like Nathaniel Arfin, from the city and riding of Burlington. It would be commentators like Evan Scrimshaw, over in Ottawa. People from all across the province, in various ridings and with different ideas on whom the next leader should be, are forming the New Leaf Liberals as a big tent on the basis that we are better off with any alternative to Crombie.

Because that tent is so large, New Leaf Liberals are trying to make it clear when they have individual stances versus the group’s stance. So I want to make it clear that I do have a different stance on what to do if Crombie wins the Leadership Review.

The New Leaf Liberals have said on their FAQ page that “No matter the outcome of the leadership review, we will continue to advocate for the strongest version of the Liberal Party that gives us the best chance to form government at the next election.”

I disagree with that. I’ve already thrown my ultimatum down publicly. As a progressive, I do not see a path forward in Bonnie Crombie’s right-wing party, and I cannot continue to support this party if it fully mutates into the unrecognizable.

If Crombie remains leader after the vote, I will be resigning my membership as an Ontario Liberal and become an independent. I won’t be leaving for another party, but rather because the party will have left me. I will maintain my federal ties, as that is thankfully separate.

As a big-tent Liberal faction, I understand the New Leaf Liberals want to collectively demonstrate they are still loyal to the party, especially when challenging the leader. But I feel a higher loyalty to my principles over any party. Achieving those principles is why I write and why I organize. I cannot provide support to a party which has pivoted so far right that we no longer share any common goals.

The Leadership Review at this AGM presents the final opportunity to pull the Ontario Liberals back from the brink, and restore a progressive focus. If you’re an Ontario Liberal, and you agree that Crombie cannot remain as leader, then you can register your intent to be a delegate here.

The AGM will occur from September 12^th to 14^th in Old Toronto at the Sheraton Centre, located across Queen Street West from Toronto City Hall. Early-bird discounts for registration fees end on August 15^th, with a regular fee of $375, a seniors and low-income rate of $240, and a youth rate of $100. These are considered political donations and are deductible for a refundable tax credit.

You as delegates will get to decide what the Ontario Liberal Party will be. You get to decide whether we seek something better for ourselves, or whether we surrender to retrograde attitudes that were outdated before we were even born.

And I can say without reservation, if the wrong choice is made?

I won’t be sticking around to see the collapse.