Former Ontario Liberal leader Del Duca to run for Vaughan mayor

Citynews.ca
Aug. 17, 2022
Lucas Casaletto

Former Ontario Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca will run as the mayor of Vaughan.

Del Duca will enter the local race on Tuesday, the politician confirmed.

He says he took time to reflect since then on his future and decided he has a “responsibility to give back” to the public.

“Vaughan has experienced explosive population growth over the years, and it’s been hard for our transportation network to keep up,” Del Duca said.

“The result is obvious and brutal -- more of our residents are stuck in traffic every single day -- wasting their precious time while both our economy and our environment suffer.”

Del Duca resigned as the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party after losing to PC incumbent Michael Tibolo in the riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge.

“I have no doubt that the women and men that Ontario Liberals have elected to the legislature will do their part to help grow a new and energetic progressive movement here in Ontario,” Del Duca said in June.

“It will, however, be a movement that will be led by a new leader.”

Ontario’s municipal elections are set to be held on October 24.

Del Duca served as transportation minister in former premier Kathleen Wynne’s cabinet between 2014 and 2018 and was among the Liberals who lost their seat during the 2018 election.

He was elected leader of the Liberal party on March 7, 2020. John Fraser has since been named as the interim leader of the provincial liberals.

Del Duca’s move follows a similar decision by former Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who recently announced she would be running for mayor of Hamilton in the upcoming municipal election.

Horwath said she thought long and hard about her decision to run and will be leaving her MPP seat in Hamilton Centre to run in the mayoral race.

Horwath stepped down as party leader -- a role she held for 13 years -- following the provincial election in June, after failing to unseat Premier Doug Ford and his Conservative government. Her party held on to Official Opposition status.