Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie will be campaigning in Midland Wednesday morning as part of her bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.
The public is welcome to attend the Midland Cultural Centre at 8 a.m., Aug. 16, where Crombie will be discussing her vision for Ontario and taking questions from the public.
"I am thrilled to be visiting the Midland Cultural Centre as part of my campaign," Crombie stated.
Mathew Lund, president of the Simcoe North Provincial Liberal Association, is coordinating the event.
"We are quite excited, obviously," said Lund. "She is leading in all the polls as the next leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario."
While five candidates have entered the provincial race, only Crombie has been attacked by Premier Doug Ford when she entered the campaign, Lund said.
"She seems to be the biggest threat to Doug Ford. She is probably the most popular mayor in Ontario," he added.
"The Midland Cultural Centre is an ideal backdrop for Mayor Crombie to highlight her commitment to undoing the damage of the Ford Government," Lund said.
The visit will serve as "a platform for discussing key policy priorities that she believes will shape Ontario's future. With a focus on healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, electoral reform and economic prosperity, Mayor Crombie's campaign emphasizes building a more equitable and resilient province for all residents."
Crombie is coming from the Town of Blue Mountains where she will be attending an event with Mayor Andrea Matrosovs Tuesday night, staying overnight and then coming to Midland Wednesday morning before heading back to Mississauga Wednesday afternoon.
Lund said it's important for Crombie to visit the riding of Simcoe North, held by Conservative Jill Dunlop, a cabinet minister, because "it's a much more progressive riding" than people think.
"If you actually run the numbers, less than 11 per cent of the riding supports Jill Dunlop," he said.
"The problem is that you have you have three progressive parties with the NDP, Greens and Liberals that are sharing about 35,000 votes and so it's actually a progressive riding."
Lund said electoral reform is necessary so that "more people's voices are heard rather than having 11 per cent of the population dictate who is going into office. Maybe if you actually gave more people a voice, we wouldn't have such voter apathy in Simcoe North," he said.
Voter turnout in Simcoe North is approximately 45 per cent, on average, and Conservative voters are active voters, he added.
So far five candidates have joined the Ontario Liberal Party leadership race: Bonnie Crombie, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Ted Hsu, Yasir Naqvi and Adil Shamji. The deadline to register as a leadership candidate is Sept. 5.
Citizens wanting to have voting rights for the leader must join their local Liberal constituency before Sept. 11. There will be leadership debates across the province before Liberal card holders cast their ballots on Nov. 25 and 26. The new leader of the OLP will be announced on Dec. 2.
For more information about Crombie's campaign, visit the website bonnieforleader.