Local Liberals had their say on who they feel should lead the provincial party in the next election.
Despite some inclement weather, close to 55 per cent of 205 eligible voters in Simcoe North made the trip to the Coldwater Legion Sunday to vote in the Liberal leadership race.
In a surprise move, one of the four candidates for the Ontario Liberal leadership, MP Nate Erskine-Smith, showed up to greet voters outside the polling place before they went in to cast their ballots.
Over the course of the leadership race, candidates visited Simcoe North nine times to try to sway voters. Other candidates running for the party's top role are Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Liberal MP and former provincial cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi and former Liberal MP and current provincial caucus member Ted Hsu.
The leadership race has seen the candidates sign up a record number of members, with more than 100,000 people eligible to vote for the new leader, up from 44,000 and 38,000 in the two previous leadership contests.
Provincial Liberal party members are voting directly in this race for the first time after it ditched a delegated system, adding meaning to who shows up to vote this weekend.
And since memberships are free and available online, it’s much easier to become a member than it is to go in person — or in the case of some northern ridings, go to a mailbox — to cast a ballot. A turnout of 40-plus per cent of the 103,000-strong list of members would be very strong, some Liberals said.
“Anything north of 40 per cent would be, I think, a pretty significant number,” said longtime Liberal Dan Moulton, who’s remained neutral in the contest.
The successful candidate needs to win on points — 6,471 points, to be exact.
Each of the province’s 124 ridings is allotted 100 points, each of the 10 Ontario Young Liberal student clubs is allotted 50 points and each of the eight women’s clubs is allotted five points. All are awarded in proportion to the number of ballots cast in each riding or club.
Elections Ontario fundraising data up to Nov. 24, which only captures donations over $200, shows Crombie with over $1.2 million in the bank. Erskine-Smith is in second with just under $500,000. Yasir Naqvi is in third with $389,000, and Ted Hsu is a close fourth with $379,000, according to real-time donations data from Elections Ontario, which does not capture donations under $100.
The local ballots and thousands of others from Ontario's ridings have been sent to Toronto to be counted.
The results of the leadership race will be announced Saturday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre with the chosen leader going head-to-head with Premier Doug Ford in the 2026 election.