John Fraser to again serve as Ontario Liberals’ interim leader

Thestar.com
July 27, 2022

Once more unto the breach.

Liberal MPP John Fraser, who served as interim party leader for two years after the Grits were almost wiped out in the 2018 election, is again stepping up after last month’s latest defeat.

Fraser (Ottawa South) has been unanimously selected by the eight-member caucus to lead the struggling Liberals until a full-time leader is eventually elected.

“I am honoured that my Ontario Liberal caucus colleagues have put my name forward to serve as our party’s next interim leader,” he said in a statement Monday.

“I am grateful to have their trust and look forward to the work ahead as we rebuild our party and continue our fight for Ontarians.”

Brian Johns, the departing party president, praised Fraser as “a strong and experienced leader with deep roots in the Ontario Liberal Party.

“I saw firsthand John’s dedication to reconnecting with our grassroots members and to rebuilding our party during his first term as interim leader,” said Johns.

“I know that he will continue to work tirelessly as we navigate this important moment in our party’s history.”

After the June 2 election, when they were led by Steven Del Duca, the Liberals were four seats short of the dozen required for official party status in the 124-member legislature.

That’s despite finishing second in popular vote behind Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives and ahead of the New Democrats, who are now led by interim leader Peter Tabuns.

The Tories won a majority of 83 seats with 40.8 per cent of the vote to 31 seats for the NDP with just 23.7 per cent. The Liberals had 23.8 per cent to win eight seats and the Greens’ six per cent translated into one seat.

While the Grits have yet to announce when they will elect a new leader, the NDP, which was led by Andrea Horwath from 2009 until last month, will pick their next full-time chief in March.

New Democrats considering leadership bids include Marit Stiles (Davenport), Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) and Catherine Fife (Waterloo).

Both Horwath, who remains the MPP for Hamilton Centre, and Del Duca, who lost in his riding in 2018 and again last month, resigned on election night.

On Tuesday morning, after weeks of speculation, Horwath will announce whether she is running to be Hamilton’s mayor in the Oct. 24 civic election. The deadline to enter that contest is Aug. 19.

By the time the next provincewide vote comes around in 2026, the Liberals will have been out of power for eight years.

Prior to that, the party governed under premiers Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty between 2003 and 2018.

The New Democrats were last in office in 1995 under premier Bob Rae, who is now Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.