Nate Erskine-Smith confirms he's not running for the Ontario Liberal leadership, leaving gaping hole in that party's race....

Nate Erskine-Smith (NES) confirmed last week that he won't be a candidate in the Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) leadership race this year, nor run provincially anytime soon (although he hasn't ruled out running municipally in his local ward.)

This is very sad for me because I thought NES represented the best hope for a reformed OLP dedicated squarely to integrity, fixing the corrupt mistakes of the past, and committing to real fixes for the issues afflicting the province.  

But unfortunately, the powers-that-be in the OLP who don't see any reasons to change, even after suffering loss of party status and almost a decade in the political wilderness, weren't interested in Nate even having a chance.  

They unleashed scruple-free insider and longtime NES critic Milton Chan to hand out ballots to anyone he wanted at the recent local Scarborough Southwest Liberal nomination meeting which turned into a circus, including people allegedly voting multiple times and taking pictures of their ballots as likely proof of payment for their votes.  The chaos eventually saw London, Ontario-based pizza franchiser Ahsanul Hafiz eke out a 19-vote victory over NES, 718 to 699.  The party immediately rubber-stamped the result, despite the discrepancy of 34 extra votes counted from the voting boxes versus the number of people the party itself detailed had been given ballots.   

Nate's appeal of the results fell on deaf ears as the three-member arbitration panel decided blind deference to the powers-that-be was their only mandate and brushed aside all of the shenanigans as just fine.  

This is the culture of the Ontario Liberal Party.  A culture that has let me down time and time again over the years.  There are some decent, progressive people in the party with principles they aren't willing to simply abandon at any time for convenience.  But those decent people remain far outnumbered by those who seem happy to merely fill rooms, applaud unconditionally, and smile beside those they perceive to already have power no matter what they stand for.   

It's true that NES wasn't the be all and end all.  He still had a ways to go to prove he could win beyond his downtown stronghold of Beaches-East York.   His hasty decision to run in the Scarborough Southwest OLP nomination race opened himself up to this sabotage, and as we saw his haters were more than happy to do anything to stop him, knowing full well the party would have their sleazy backs.   

Alas, I'm getting very tired of this story.  

If this is how the Ontario Liberal Party wants to operate, that is their choice.  I'll make my future choices about political participation accordingly.   But I can tell you I won't be supporting Hafiz in Scarborough Southwest who was happy to commit all kinds of fraud to win his nomination, with the blessing of his party's bigwigs.   

I still hate Doug Ford and what his PCs have done or not done to Ontario.  It may be that even the OLP, with all of its wishy washy amoralism and inadequate policies, would be preferable to them.  

The remaining OLP leadership candidates all bring some good qualities to their candidacies, but fail to inspire me much.  

Navdeep Bains is an overly safe insider probably few Ontarians have ever heard of.  Despite being in elected federal politics from 2004 to 2011, and from 2015 to 2021 when he served as Industry Minister in Justin Trudeau's cabinet, can many remember anything he's ever said, any speech he's ever given that illustrates his essential leadership qualities?  I only remember his evasive and frankly laughable answers in rare committee meetings federally when he was defending against conflicts of interest allegations, or other subdued, milquetoast comments. 

His OLP leadership campaign this year personifies that overly safe approach.  He's fighting to "renew the Ontario promise," and to promote "prosperity and opportunity" for all Ontarians.  In short, he's fighting for a whole lot of nothing.  This is probably music to the ears of many OLP folks who don't care much about policy specifics, just where the camera is located so they can stand behind a "winner" and look important.  

Bains' caution and general conservatism may be what centrist Ontarians, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area where the OLP needs to win a whole bunch of seats to contend for government, are looking for.  His strategy seems to be to wait out Doug Ford, hoping scandals and the sad state of Ontario's economy and social sectors will simply force Ontarians to seek an alternative in 2029.  Offering a vague promise about "renewing Ontario's promise" may represent the full ambition of his leadership.  In government, I can picture him doing not much of anything to fix these problems, but fixing problems isn't really on his agenda.  It's winning and then occupying the seat of power.   Would he be better than Doug Ford?  I honestly can't say that I have any idea.  

Superficially, is it appealing to think that a Sikh man who wears a turban and is generally inoffensive on a surface level, could become premier of Ontario?  Sure, that symbolic breakthrough would have its appeal for a brief time.  But after that, what kind of government would he run?  I have no doubt that Bains is hoping to keep those questions unanswered as long as possible.    

The other OLP leadership candidates aren't any better. 

Lee Fairclough seems like a decent, hard-working woman.  I admire the dedication and tenacity she showed in running for and winning her seat in Doug Ford’s backyard in Etobicoke (although like NES, winning one riding personally doesn’t necessarily mean strong appeal outside of that riding base).  Her leadership campaign so far has also been heavy on platitudes and very milquetoast.  What does she bring specifically that no one else can bring to the job?  What is her brand?  It's not yet clear.  I also think her brief time in elected politics has left her retail and political skills under-cooked.  Her plodding speaking style has improved a bit since last year and she has potential.  If she put more substance or personality in her speeches, really fleshing out the "Lee Fairclough" promise, she might present a more appealing option.  As things are going, if it's merely a choice based on surface characteristics, I have a sense that Bains will win this easily.

Rob Cerjanec is a mildly good-looking man who is clearly not ready for provincial leadership just yet.  I'm glad he eked out a victory over the PCs in Ajax last year, thanks no doubt to some quick and decent organizing and a lot of luck.  That doesn't make him qualified to be leader this year.  And like the other major candidates, his platform is platitudes, platitudes, platitudes.  

I need to listen more to Dylan Marando, another candidate, who used to be a senior policy adviser to the former OLP government at Queen's Park.  He seems to be running a decent campaign so far, although it's unclear if he's truly in contention to win this.  I would certainly consider him, but still need to listen more to what he has to say.   

Housing advocate Eric Lombardi has made a bit of a splash so far in this race too.  Some of his ideas are truly revolutionary for his party.  I do admire his willingness to take bold stands on issues including housing and electoral reform.  However, I'm starting to worry a bit about some of his fans, including right-wing bro types who most Liberals and liberals would find offensive.  The endorsement from yellow journalist Adam Zivo, who's always been willing to ignore facts about the effectiveness of safe drug supplies in order to continually back up his ideological crusade against poor people, not to mention some other scary tech bros, makes me wonder what's really going on with Lombardi's candidacy.  

I have met Lombardi personally once or twice.  He's not anywhere close to being ready for the party leadership.  I'm quite hot and cold about his candidacy.  I have a lot more thinking and research to do.     

So these are the choices Liberals are left with, now that the party establishment has kiboshed NES.  

Not much choice, if you ask me.  

Today's corruption: "As a Ford government staffer, he helped get through permits for a controversial gold mine. Now he works for the company as a lobbyist"

Premier Drug Fraud and his buddies at work

Stories like this are now a dime a dozen. 

It's clear Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government is corrupt, with a revolving door of staffers making their way into the private sector, selling their insider knowledge and connections made while working as "public servants" in ministers' offices.  Now putting that insider knowledge and those connections to work for private corporations who only have their own profits to care about, certainly not the public interest. Matters are now worse since the PCs changed Access to Information laws in Ontario this year, ensuring any ministerial office activities are completely beyond scrutiny of the public.

No wonder Ontario is a broken mess right now.  Ontario voters need to wake up from their complacency and realize their provincial government is no longer on their side and hasn't been for years, Doug Ford's claims to be a "man of the people" notwithstanding.  It's a demonstrable, objective truth that public education, public health, public transportation, and public services have collapsed in quality under his rule.   

Today's tonic: "Scott Pelley on His Firing and the ‘Massacre’ at ‘60 Minutes’ | The Interview"

Please take some time to watch some or all of this if you care about truth and are concerned about the lies and gas lighting we're collectively experiencing these days.   

 

Today's tonic: "Who’s behind the massive lobbying campaign to expand the island airport? What I discovered should worry us all"

Opinion writer Richard Warnica digs into the rich, powerful Americans who are pushing to destroy Toronto's waterfront just to make themselves more rich in this great piece of required reading, "Who’s behind the massive lobbying campaign to expand the island airport? What I discovered should worry us all."  

Dear Mark Carney - If you allow these sleazy JP Morgan profiteers who own the Billy Bishop Airport who care nothing about Toronto's people, Toronto's economy, Toronto's neighbourhoods, Toronto's quality of life, and who only care about their own profit maximization, to win the day on this debate on jets ruining Toronto's waterfront, I will never stop trying to politically destroy you and your useless Liberal Party!   I know a lot of Torontonians who think the same way.    

We know Doug Ford is a corrupt politician who is selling out Toronto and the rest of Ontario to his buddies - he's clearly bought the JP Morgan lobbying line hook line and sinker.    I plead that the same level of corruption doesn't currently infect the federal Liberal government and the Toronto MPs who represent this city in Ottawa. 

Liberal insiders hobble Nate Erskine-Smith and try to deny Ontario Liberal members their democratic rights...

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith

I've read ad nauseam over the years how some Ontario Liberal insiders hate Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith (also known as NES) and want nothing more than to see him fail politically.    

Undoubtedly, he seems to inspire strong reactions from certain people who might be described as "centre-right" or "insider" Liberals.

Why is that the case?     

"He's not a team player," some have claimed.  

"He's only interested only in promoting himself," many have also claimed.   

Of course, I'm not familiar with any politicians of any stripes who don't try to incessantly "promote themselves". That is the nature of this game, after all.  

Why Nate doing the exact same thing that all politicians do makes him the target of this particular criticism, while these critics seem to have no problem with other politicians who also promote themselves, says a lot about those critics.  

It says that this main criticism of NES is total bullshit and a facade masking something else.  

When Nate takes one for the team, like remaining in Ottawa as an MP when he clearly wanted to quit already in order to keep the precarious federal Liberal minority government with one extra seat to count on, this was ignored by Nate's critics.

All of the evidence of Nate's decency and many considerable strengths are routinely ignored by these same critics.  His strong local connections forged after 10 years in office are ignored because "he's not a team player".  His ability to represent his riding right next door in Beaches-East York effectively, responding well to the needs of local residents, being present when it counts, was totally ignored by his critics when he sought the nomination in the riding right across the street in Scarborough Southwest.  His local experience was dismissed while controversial nominee Ashanul Hafiz (who had only bought a mansion in the riding in the fall of 2025 after living in London, Ontario for decades) was embraced as a local Scarborough guy.  What gas lighting!  

These are the same Liberals who applauded the appointment of Evan Solomon in Toronto Centre last year, even though he hadn't lived in Toronto for 30 years.  Few Liberal MPs or MPPs in Toronto actually live in their ridings.   Few OLP candidates across Ontario actually lived in their ridings in the 2025 Ontario election.  

Politicians in parties at the provincial or federal levels are expected to play within a set of certain rules or expectations - to put the team ahead of themselves.  This system mimics the structure and discipline we see in many corporations and other top-down organizations.  It sets up a system of accountability for those who have earned the leadership at the top.   

But of course, this assumes such organizations have due process and decent policies designed to best utilize the strengths and skills of their members, so they are all rowing in the same direction, with the same goals and priorities in mind.  In the case of the Liberal Party, those goals should include governing well in the interests of all Ontarians.     

For me, the hatred I've seen thrown at Nate is the worst kind of gas lighting.  

Yes, he's provided healthy skepticism and sometimes has spoken out to support his sincerely held principles on key issues.  Those interventions have been important including on MAID, on democracy, on the genocide in Gaza.  Nate's goals have always been about seeking a better result for people, not himself.  He's a progressive trying to be pragmatic within the Liberal Party, pushing it towards better positions on issues.  He's been unafraid to speak truth to power, perhaps naturally skeptical of authority to ensure due process, fairness and dignity are maintained in society, in government, and in the economy.  That's the kind of person I'd like as Premier of Ontario.   

Most if not all of the Nate hatred has come from "Liberals" I would characterize as closet conservatives:  Neo-liberals who call themselves "centrists" or "pragmatists" but merely favour token liberal policies designed with the true intent to simply bolster the conservative agenda afflicting most of the Western world.  Tax cuts, more deregulation, doing little to anything to actually transform our oil-dependent economy into a diverse economy with sustainable and viable energy options.  Leaving housing policy completely up to the private market, which has shown itself to be a total failure when it comes to providing housing for all, or even adequate housing for most.  

These corporate Liberals, along with all Conservatives, have promoted policies on housing, for example, that have destroyed accessibility to the basic building block of our economy.  Middle class families used to be able to afford to buy a house in this economy, on the strength of one partner's income.  Eventually, the cost of housing skyrocketed forcing both partners to work to afford the basics of life.   But we're long past that reality now. 

Most of this new generation knows they'll never be able to afford a house in Ontario.   This is tragic since the previous generations now sit on the most "fake" wealth ever accumulated, their housing stock now "valued" in the millions after they bought it 30 years ago or more for well under $500,000 CAD.   

The cost of living has literally moved beyond what most people can afford anymore.  Pay rates haven't kept up with this reality.

How did this happen?  Neo-liberals in both the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative Party did little to promote housing equity, and instead let the top of the heap continue to see their home values rise to scandalous levels.  Canada is broken in many ways.  They set up an economic and political climate where someone as toxic and noxious as Pierre Poilievre almost succeeded in using these issues to grab power and destroy what is left of this country.  

But for Donald Trump's verbal threats against Canada's sovereignty, as well as his real economic attacks on our important industries, paving the way for Mark Carney to ride in and save the day with his deep experience managing and attempting to transform economies, as well as his levelled demeanour and nuanced understanding of climate change.    

For a variety of reasons irrelevant to his character or experience (he was one of too many white males from Toronto in Justin Trudeau's caucus, who was looking for symbolically diverse cabinets who mostly did nothing but repeat PMO talking points), NES was kept out of Trudeau's cabinet until near the end, when he ascended to Housing Minister, and got a taste of governing a major portfolio at a time of immense crisis.   

Sadly for him, it didn't last long and while he wrote a two-page note congratulating his colleagues on their appointments to cabinet on the day he found himself outside cabinet again, his one line in that note saying he couldn't help but feel "disrespected" by being dropped so quickly was pounced on by the media and those nasty critics as further proof he's not a "team player."  (NES has since said he regrets using that term, but again critics love to forgive other politicians for their mistakes, but never Nate). 

His comment reflected Nate's instinctive honesty, perhaps honesty to a fault.  He is open about his thoughts in ways most tight-lipped insiders who constantly seek favour from the bosses, whoever the bosses may be, cannot understand.  This is why Nate threatens them so much.  They know he's honest, while they, deep down, know they are not.   

Furthermore, Nate's progressive tendencies, like actually doing something about housing to fix our cost of living crisis, also offend them because, deep down, these centrist-do-nothing Liberals want to merely tinker around the edges of our problems rather than do something for the people.  Like many Liberals always have done in government behind closed doors.  

Nate's devotion to fairness, due process, justice for all, integrity also offend his critics who don't give a crap about any of that "leftie" stuff. 

Witness the actions of Liberal insiders Tom Allison and Milton Chan at the recent Scarborough Southwest OLP nomination where they came to ensure Nate was stopped so they could "save the party".  

Why were they so scared of Nate's possible leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party?  Because they know Nate can't be bought and manipulated like most previous Liberal leaders and insiders.  Bonnie Crombie promised change, but then hired the exact same "D" team of folks who had driven the party right into the ditch of non-party status in 2018 after failing on so many issues during the latter Kathleen Wynne years.  Wynne herself ran on a platform in 2013 on mixing things up and refreshing the party from the rot that had started to set in under McGuinty, but she quickly jettisoned all of those ambitions and again hired the same damn insiders like Allison.  Nothing changed.    

This Emperor has no clothes.   

Like many grassroots Liberals, I want the party to cut from the past and embrace a leader who we can count on both to clean up the party, and fight hard to clean up and fix this broken province.  I've had enough of housing policy designed only for the wealthy.   I've had enough of health care dysfunction.  I've had enough of transportation policies that keep us trapped in our neighbourhoods, cities, towns and villages because the neo-liberals who ran this place the last 60 years didn't bother making the tough but necessary decisions we needed.   

Nate is no Messiah.  But we need someone like Nate Erskine-Smith to lead the Liberals now, to get rid of this corrupt Doug Ford administration which is the definition of pointless ego and corruption.    

The collapsed middle class and struggling working class can't afford to live in our economy anymore.  I don't want some centrist-do-nothing who thinks being a "team player" means you just go along to get along with everybody, regardless of their malfeasance or bad intentions.  I don't want some corporate Liberal who can always be counted on to do the right thing for wealthy shareholders, to the detriment of the rest of us, while lying to us that he's fighting for "working folks."   

I support Nate for leader of the Ontario Liberal Party because he stands up for the ordinary person without a voice in all of this chaos.  He's honest.  He's a hard worker.  He's a good communicator.  He's charismatic.  And he's not about to betray his principles when the corrupt forces that have run this province for too long come to try to buy him.  

This is why the recent fiasco in Scarborough Southwest was so heartbreaking.  But it laid bare the clear intentions of sleazy insiders like Tom Allison and Milton Chan (who both really need to be given a one-way ticket out of this province forever, quite frankly) who will do anything to stop a good man from taking power in the party they consider their personal property, including cheating out in the open to stuff ballot boxes, hand ballots to ineligible voters with no permissible ID, and buy votes to ensure Nate couldn't win.  

I hope Nate decides to regroup after this setback, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's adjudication of his appeal of the May 9th nomination results, and stays in the provincial game.   I also hope the arbiters rule the nomination result void, and call for a new nomination and candidate not sullied by these shenanigans (and as NES has stated, it won't be him. Rather than benefit from this appeal, he's falling on his sword to ensure a fair process, which is unusual for someone who only "cares about himself".)

I'm not aware of any other leadership candidate who we can count on to speak truth to power and do the hard work of ridding this party of its past corruption, to make it into something worth electing again.  One or two of them currently in the mix have some potential, but I honestly believe those in real contention will in the end let us down too.   

Ontario Liberal members' democratic rights were undermined by the insiders at the May 9th nomination fiasco who were ironically doing what they always accuse Nate of doing: they were looking out just for themselves.  

I want Nate to run for leader this year on a platform to fix housing, fix the cost of living crisis (or at least take effective action to help out people who are struggling), fix public health care, fix public education, take on the corrupt interests that for too long have run this province.  And to take on the corrupt forces currently dominating the OLP.   They have to go.   And Nate is the person to do it.   

Today's tonics: Mark Carney's Liberals dragging their feet protecting Toronto's waterfront from jet-fuelled destruction & taking progressive Canadians for granted...

 

 

Today's tonics / recommended reads are two opinion pieces in the Toronto Star (by opinion writers who, unlike yellow journalist Martin Regg Cohn, still actually use facts and evidence to underpin their arguments). 

First, Shawn Micallef's "Toronto’s Liberal MPs have a duty to defend the city’s stake in the future of Billy Bishop airport. So why aren’t they?"  

Micallef makes clear the gutless neutrality on display so far from Toronto Liberal MPs who can't seem to properly represent their residents' major concerns about potential jets taking over Toronto's skies and destroying the livability of Toronto's downtown core just to allow a handful of rich jet setters increased choice on which expensive flight they'll be taking next.  

Furthermore, the federally-regulated Toronto Port Authority is already drafting up plans to extend the island airport's runway by one kilometre into the water, with plans to see it shoot past Doug Ford's corrupt Therme Spa, which is also being constructed without concern for environmental impact.   

This would be exactly what visitors to the Therme Spa are looking for: a watery refuge pounded by constant jet engine noise and gas pollution, where you wonder every five minutes if that jet is going to crash straight into you and potentially all the concert goers at the nearby LiveNation re-designed concert venue.  As if people downtown want more noise, not less.  

On the other end of the waterfront, newly-finished Biidaasige Park and plans to expand housing on the re-designed Portlands will also be ruined when the jet flight path destroys all peace and housing demand, further trashing what might've been a great evolution of Toronto's waterfront.   

Yes, everything Doug Ford touches turns to shit, as we know.  Look at Ontario today.  It seems Ontarians are finally coming out of their coma when it comes to how one fixes their province: you defeat mediocre jokers who are all-talk and never met a good plan they weren't willing to destroy.  

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: You can take action by signing No Jets TO's petition here. 

Mark Carney's Liberals are indeed taking progressive voters for granted, as Althia Raj astutely describes in this other piece today, "Mark Carney has forgotten who helped get him elected."

Dear Mark, it's time to put aside those centrist-do-nothing, just be a Conservative instincts you seem to have and remember the COALITION that elected you.  

If you continue to govern like Brian Mulroney, you are playing with fire, as Pierre Poilievre is still waiting around for you to fail, and progressive voters are figuring out they're no better off with you in power.  

It's time to reject Doug Ford's insane jets plan for Toronto, and to find better ways to sustain the programs Canadians need and the environmental assessments that are essential to sustained life in this country (which are also under major threat by Carney's cost-cutting, tax-cutting inclinations.) 

Why is the Toronto Star printing fake news articles to impact two Ontario political races?

The Toronto Star’s campaign against one local Liberal is a clear attempt to mislead voters and impact on the provincial party’s leadership race

Re-posted from my Substack

OPEN LETTER SUBMITTED TO THE TORONTO STAR’S PUBLIC EDITOR

April 6, 2026:

Dear Public Editor --

I’m writing to complain about the lack of professionalism / borderline yellow journalism / clear and unfair bias being committed by your small Queen’s Park bureau members against a possible candidate for the Ontario Liberal leadership. As this could impact the results of the next election and Ontario’s future, this is a huge deal that needs addressing.

The most recent example of what appears to be their biased and fact-challenged campaign was published today (Monday April 6) by Martin Regg Cohn, who seems to have a personal vendetta he is working out against Nate Erskine-Smith (NES), the Liberal MP for Beaches-East York and possible Ontario Liberal leadership candidate / candidate for the OLP nomination in Scarborough Southwest. In it, Regg Cohn reports NES has “lost his mind”, which is utter nonsense and blatantly false, and beneath any serious commentator.

In it, the “opinion” columnist used this previous fake news article on March 28 by the Star by Rob Ferguson and Robert Benzie about Nate Erksine-Smith as a means to attack him further. Why is this article and headline a lie? Because Nate Erskine-Smith is on record saying he supports his nomination opponents staying in the local nomination race. Period. As made clear in this March 17 TVO article by a reporter who doesn’t write fake news like Ferguson and Benzie do.

Did Rob Ferguson or Robert Benzie re-interview NES after the TVO piece and ask him if he supports his opponents staying in the race or not? It would appear they did not ask this question at all and instead chose to spin NES’s public comments into a fake news story about him calling for his opponents to support his “juggernaut” and drop out.

“Juggernaut” is a word NES never spoke it seems, but was just made up by the Toronto Star reporters to create a very false impression, inflame the situation on the ground and cause political trouble for NES. Why are Toronto Star reporters writing fake news stories to try to influence an internal party race???

Now Regg Cohn is taking the fake news story and running with it. It’s like the Star reporters are in cahoots to take down Nate Erskine-Smith! Are they getting kickbacks from Doug Ford or something, or maybe from Marit Stiles? And lambasting NES with criticism, like questioning his comments on another nomination candidate who’s lived in London, Ontario for decades until buying another home in Scarborough Southwest last fall. Regg Cohn says because he was personally born in Montreal but moved to Toronto decades ago, that is the same thing as someone else buying a house in Toronto a few months ago and claiming a longtime connection here. What kind of nonsensical comparison is that? Regg Cohn is reaching for reasons to continue his attack on NES!

This follows a clear pattern by Regg Cohn in all of his recent coverage of NES I would describe as petty, overly critical, ridiculous to any fair-minded reader, like in this article.

The snarky, uncalled for, clearly biased language Regg Cohn always uses on every occasion to describe Erskine-Smith, is truly unprofessional and damaging to the Ontario body politic. Because it denies us fair coverage of this important political leadership race. Here’s another example, where Regg Cohn decides NES is “sullenly silent”, another description Regg Cohn pulled out of his own ass.

This article misled readers with Regg Cohn’s odd description of NES that “he lurked conspicuously outside the voting area on the weekend to waylay delegates,” at the September OLP AGM.

Lurked? For those who witnessed it (had Regg Cohn bothered to speak to anyone besides his own biased mind) one would say NES was “present, smiling, shaking hands, talking to people.” Is that what Regg Cohn thinks is “lurking”? Then we’re all guilty of “lurking” all the time. Also “lurking” at that AGM outside the voting area was Bonnie Crombie herself, who was also shaking hands and smiling with delegates as they went in to decide her fate. What a crime! Yet Regg Cohn ignored Crombie’s “lurking” but reported NES’s “lurking.” By what standard was Regg Cohn justified to say NES was “lurking” but Crombie was not? What is a reader to believe? His bias is clear and deeply wrong.

Using this standard, one could say anything they wanted with descriptive language that bares no resemblance to the truth and print it in the Toronto Star, creating a false impression.

The public deserves a modicum of truth when it comes to their political coverage. I am simply sick and tired of this irresponsible behaviour and yellow journalism from the Star.

To make matters worse, when I dared to question the Star’s editorial slant and biases on the public comments section of your site last night, pointing out these facts, including the fact NES said he welcomes his opponents staying in the local race, your editorial folks deleted all of my comments to silence any criticism of their yellow journalism. Pathetic! I deserve an apology for that clear attempt by the Star to silence justified criticism. I was up late and added one more reasonable comment, and miraculously it’s still there today. Perhaps your evening censor was off shift by then - or perhaps my email last night has caused a re-think of the Star’s practise of silencing / deleting any comments they don’t like.

Ontarians need better coverage of provincial politics than this. One can criticize anyone including NES. No one is perfect. I like NES, but I also like other possible Liberal leadership candidates. I have no bias against Qadira Jackson, one of those also running in Scarborough Southwest for the OLP nomination - I even donated to her 2025 campaign. I don’t know any of the other candidates running for the nomination. I have no connection to NES’s nomination or leadership campaign.

I am just a concerned citizen simply calling the Star out on their clear bias and lack of professionalism for their coverage.

Doesn’t the Star need to print “news” articles or opinion pieces that have some semblance of truth?

If I were a candidate running for office in our democracy and said that my opponents should stay in the race with me if they choose, shouldn’t a news article by the Toronto Star make that clear? Or is it okay for the Star to print I said my opponents “must get out of the race and support my powerful juggernaut” and leave out the fact I said “my opponents should stay in the race”? And mislead voters?????

You tell me, please. The Toronto Star’s campaign against one local Liberal is a clear attempt to mislead voters and impact on a provincial party’s race.

If your office doesn’t admonish or warn Mr. Regg Cohn about his yellow journalism, and the rest of the tiny Queen’s Park team that they have an obligation to report truth and actual facts, and not tweak articles against Mr. Erskine-Smith or anyone else, then I will simply have to doubt every word your paper prints on NES and all of your news coverage.

The Star needs to do much better than this!

Sincerely,

Matt Guerin

 

Today's tonic: "How the numbers undermine Doug Ford’s flight of fancy on Billy Bishop and jets"

Before everyone jumps on Doug Ford's bandwagon (like doing that got us anywhere good in the past!?) about bringing "jets" to the Toronto Island airport, give this piece by the Toronto Star's Matt Elliott a read: 

"The report lists around a billion dollars worth of changes that would need to be made at the airport to get jets flying, including $50 million to somehow add 1,000 parking spaces. (“This is probably quite conservative,” the report warns.)

The final assessment of the report is blunt. Billy Bishop, the report says, “is not physically capable of serving as a Pearson on the lake. It cannot and need not become a full-service airport.”

Whatever you think of the idea of expanding the airport, it seems reasonable to demand that proponents provide evidence that they have a plan to address these business and infrastructure issues. Show us projections. Show us a business case. Show us any indication that the rationale for this change goes beyond “jets are cool.” There’s a hell of a lot on the preflight checklist before this flight of fancy gets cleared for takeoff."

“Why Sinners should win the best picture Oscar"

Michael B. Jordan as twins in Sinners

As many already know, I'm a bit of a film nut.   

My favourite film of 2025 was Ryan Coogler's Sinners, a great masterpiece that should be remembered for years to come.   It moved me in ways I haven't felt from a feature film in years.  Its complex and layered storytelling, exquisite acting and the out of this world directing was an astonishing accomplishment, the best of the year, in my opinion.  

It received an historic 16 Oscar nominations earlier this year, the most ever for one film.  Every branch of the Academy honored its greatness, so thorough was its artistic achievements.  

Yes, it's a scary horror movie.  But it's SO MUCH MORE than that.  It's a penetrating social commentary on the history of racism in America, placing its story in 1932 Mississippi where we meet unforgettable characters, mostly Black, trying to make their lives better.  The invasion of vampires is an allegory for the  Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and its destructive impact on Black lives.  The symbolism bites, pun intended, and leaves the viewer with aching sympathy as the story explores issues of subjugation, violence, and cultural appropriation.  The vampires don't just want to kill everyone; they want to steal their lives, their music, everything that is good about them, and leave them captured in an evil system from which they can never escape.    

That's their plan anyway, however the humans fight back, led by Michael B. Jordan, who plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, the owners of the juke joint where the survivors keep refuge, refusing the invite the vampires inside.  The tension builds to a stunning conclusion that ties together the elements with pathos, exhilaration, relief and satisfaction.  

When you watch it (please say you're going to watch it), stay for the end credits and the incredibly poignant final scene.   

No other films meant this much to me last year, although Hamnet came close.  I don't get the support for One Battle After Another, an entertaining film that doesn't quite ring true for me on many levels.  I appreciated the touching relationship between adoptive father and teenage daughter as they run from a racist, psychotic cop trying to destroy the last proof of his dalliance with a black woman years ago.  It's fascinating with some truly incredible cinematography (particularly the final car chase scene across the desert).  

But a second viewing of One Battle left me irritated and feeling empty.  I just think there are so many vivid examples of racism in America, the writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson didn't need to concoct this heavy-handed, far-fetched story about a guy trying to kill his own mixed race daughter so he can join the fictitious Christmas Adventurers Club.  The director mostly played it all straight, as if this story was some truth-telling commentary on real life America (unlike the obviously supernatural storytelling of Sinners).  The banter back and forth between Leonardo Di Caprio and the unseen revolutionary phone operator, for example, about the secret rendezvous points was amusing in the first viewing, but let's face it, just plain dumb and concocted to merely show off acting and writing skills.  I've never liked Paul Thomas Anderson's films much - perhaps There Will Be Blood was the most memorable, but the rest were just not my cup of tea.  He hasn't won an Academy Award before because he just didn't deserve one before, in my humble opinion.  He'll probably take the Oscar on March 15th for Best Adapted Screenplay for his script.  But I hope that is it for him.  

Nah, I think it's time for Ryan Coogler to take Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture.  And many more for Sinners.

The precursors leading up to the Oscars have first favoured One Battle After Another, but lately with the BAFTAs and last weekend's SAG Actor Awards, the tide seems to be turning in favour of the film most people truly love, Sinners, over the film they respect, One Battle.  

I've had a spidey sense that Sinners would pull this out and take the top prize for weeks.  I think a lot of people did too.  16 nominations was always going to mean something.  

Please don't take my word for it, give this article by Guardian writer Steve Rose a read too.    

 

Today's tonic from Lloyd Axworthy: "Canada once rejected America’s aggressive, unlawful foreign policy. Today Mark Carney embraced it"

If you are one of those Canadians who supported former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's rejection of America's illegal and immoral military aggression based on lies of WMD in Iraq in 2003, but today support Mark Carney's kowtowing to Joker Maniac President Donald Trump's latest attempt to distract from the Epstein files with his illegal and hypocritical military attack on Iran (dubbed Operation Epic Fury, which sounds like a teenager's video game fantasy), then you are a hypocrite, plain and simple.  

There was no imminent threat of Iran completing nuclear weapons (that threat may now be strengthened by these attacks which will fortify extremist power in Iran under new leadership and hand that horrible regime much moral authority).  In fact, it was Trump who tore up the anti-nuclear agreement that his predecessor had signed with Iran, refused to negotiate seriously to replace it, and chose once again the option of might over right.  Even if this regime is toppled after months or years of war, does anyone who’s not a crazy conservative actually believe this will lead to something stable and peaceful in the region?  How can we forget so easily the extremist Islamic State that eventually replaced Saddam Hussein leading to years of more conflict paid for by U.S. tax dollars?

Today, I'm happy to share some brutal honesty from former Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy with this column published in the Toronto Star this weekend:   

"Canada’s response to the U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a fault line at the heart of our foreign policy.

"We invoke international law and the “rules based international order” when adversaries engage in unlawful actions, but abandon those same rules entirely when it’s the Americans — whose current government 60 per cent of Canadians now see as a threat — doing the bombing. For a country that depends on law more than force for its own security, that is not realism; it is recklessness...

"We have been here before, and once knew better. In 2003, Canada refused to join the American invasion of Iraq because there was no Security Council resolution, and the case for war rested on preventing a hypothetical future WMD threat. Today, by endorsing preventive strikes on Iran during ongoing diplomacy and after Washington itself shredded the previous agreement, we are embracing the very doctrine we used to reject...

"The contrast with our language on Ukraine is stark. For four years, Canadian officials have rightly called Russia’s invasion an “unprovoked,” “unjustifiable,” “illegal” violation of the UN Charter and of Ukrainian sovereignty. Yet when the United States and Israel launch large scale strikes without UN authorization, Ottawa drops the legal vocabulary entirely. No talk of aggression, no warning about Charter erosion, no insistence on emergency debate in New York. The double standard is obvious: when Russia uses force without lawful grounds, it is condemned as an outlaw; when the U.S. does something legally analogous, we kowtow in an effort to curry favour." 

Today's tonic: Jon Ossoff: "The President posting about the Obamas like a Klansman" | Full Speech

I’ve been scouring U.S. Democratic politics since November 2024 desperately looking for hope.

Hope in the human form of some decent, talented, progressive Democrat who can challenge the MAGA hellhole that the U.S.A. has become, rise to the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket and take back that country in 2028.

Assuming there will still be a democracy in that country to run in and a country to save.

So far, the usual list of prospects - from Gavin Newsom to Pete Buttigieg to Kamala Harris to Josh Shapiro - has left me feeling hopeless and anxious. None inspire much confidence in me. AOC is promising but it's probably too early for her.

I hadn’t given Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff much consideration before watching this speech he gave yesterday in Atlanta. Ossoff won his Senate seat in a political nail biter in 2021 the evening before Trump’s January 6th coup.  Now in his late 30s, he oozes intelligence, decency, and dare I say it some hot charisma. He reminds me a bit of JFK.

Have a watch of this great speech. Watching it reminds me of Barack Obama’s electrifying 2004 speech to the Democratic convention which awakened much excitement that would eventually lead to his presidential election in 2008.

After this speech, Ossoff definitely jumps into major consideration, assuming he can hang on to win re-election this year in Georgia. Let’s hope! 

 

Special thanks to the Rational National for his post today for alerting me to this great speech.  

Public Interest or Private Profit? Liberal Insider Mike Crawley Plots to Take the Ontario Liberal Party Leadership

I've never been some well-connected, business-card-waving, lobbyist-registry-joining insider willing to sell access to people I know in the Ontario Liberal Party.  

Sure, I could've taken that route after 2003 when the Ontario Liberals first came to power.  I was a staffer back then - a big believer in the cause of defeating the Mike Harris PCs and fixing our healthcare and education systems.  While I hoped the McGuinty government would succeed in its progressive goals (and they certainly did on many files), I never dreamed of using my connections to stick it to ratepayers and get rich.  I was in politics for the right reasons.  

Liberal insider Mike Crawley

But longtime Liberal Party insider Mike Crawley clearly thought differently.  While many Liberals were working for the public good, Crawley was setting himself up to become the multi-millionaire he is today.  Now he wants to be the next Ontario Liberal Party leader, succeeding Bonnie Crombie.  I have some thoughts to share on this:

The "business record" Crawley now touts as his leadership credential is built on a foundation of insider access.  In November 2004, while Crawley was President of the Ontario wing of the federal Liberal Party, his company, AIM PowerGen, was awarded a $475 million, 20-year contract for the Erie Shores Wind Farm.

The optics were, frankly, gross.  While his company was bidding on that massive contract, Crawley was actively participating in Liberal Party policy meetings with industry figures and, according to Hansard records, encouraging attendance at a fundraiser for Energy Minister Dwight Duncan.  It was the beginning of a "pay-to-play" culture that would eventually haunt the Ontario Liberal Party.   

This wasn't just about one wind farm; it was about a systemic dismantling of oversight.  Crawley's companies - first AIM PowerGen and later Northland Power - benefited from the Global Adjustment (GA) system.  This mechanism guaranteed high, above-market rates for green energy companies for 20 years, regardless of market demand.  

• Skyrocketing Rates: Between 2006 and 2014 alone, the GA cost Ontario ratepayers $37 billion. 
• The Taxpayer Subsidy: In 2018, Doug Ford's PCs couldn't cancel these lucrative contracts without massive lawsuits, so they shifted the costs from hydro bills to the general tax base. 
• The Result: Today, in 2026, every single Ontario taxpayer is still on the hook for billions of dollars a year to subsidize the legacy contracts Crawley helped establish. 

How did this happen?  The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) is supposed to ensure new projects are needed and prices are fair.  But for Crawley and his peers, the OEB was an obstacle. 

Liberal Energy Ministers Dwight Duncan and George Smitherman simply removed the OEB's teeth.  Between 2004 and 2011, they and other Liberal energy ministers issued almost 100 Ministerial Directives - marching orders that forced the system to bypass competitive bidding and cost-benefit analysis.

In 2004, Dwight Duncan didn't wait for a market need; he issued directives that "picked winners."  Mike Crawley was at the front of that line.  Because it was done via directive, there was no OEB hearing to ask if his 8 cents/kWh rate (60% above market value) was a good deal for the public.  It was a political decision, made for a political insider.  

When George Smitherman took the reins, he doubled down with the Green Energy Act - the ultimate "insider's charter."  He used these powers to sign infamous "Take-or-Pay" contracts.  Companies like Crawley's were paid guaranteed rates even if Ontario had a surplus of power and had to pay other jurisdictions to take it off our hands.   

Before the public realized our hydro bills were being treated like an insider's ATM, Crawley had already cashed out.  He sold AIM PowerGen in 2009 for an enterprise value of $241 million - a value no doubt inflated by those OEB-exempt contracts.  He then moved to Northland Power, where the cycle of lucrative procurement continued. 

This was a sad and soul-crushing moment in Ontario Liberal history and remains a stain on their record:  How Liberals converted the promise of green energy into a lucrative bonanza for party insiders.  

Now, in 2026, Mike Crawley is plotting to win the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.  He presents himself as a "successful businessman," but Crawley didn't succeed in a free market.  He succeeded in a rigged system where his friends in the party used Directives to bypass the watchdogs.  

He didn't build a business; he built a wealth-transfer machine.  

Ontario Liberals need to think carefully about who we are and whether or not we will finally turn the page on the corruption of the past and become the honest, decent, progressive, innovative leaders that Ontario needs.    

The province is growing tired of the new corruption they're seeing under current PC Premier Doug Ford, including the same insider tricks and deal-making behind closed doors they came to hate under the Liberals.  

But if the Liberals are led by their own insider who got rich from previous Liberal corruption, who are they to criticize Ford for any of this?  Any why would Ontarians turn to the Ontario Liberal Party to get a better government?    

 ****UPDATE March 10, 2026****

Thankfully, Crawley announced earlier this month that he was dropping his plans to seek the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.  While his "campaign" claimed preliminary support, he announced March 5th he would not run for leader for family reasons. 

But this report by Policorner noted that "several sources say Crawley’s team became aware that reporters were pursuing a potential story tied to court documents related to sediment released into two creeks near Cochrane by Northland Power, where he served as a vice-president at the time. It wasn’t clear to these sources what the scope of that reporting might be...

"Though they insist it wasn’t the only factor, the sources say the prospect of such a story was privately discussed by those close to Crawley as a factor in his decision to pull out...

“How much more weight does a vote in Cochrane carry compared to one in Mississauga?” one source asked..."

Ummm, wow! It figures that someone supporting Crawley would be so detached from reality that they would say something as stupid as that.  As if people in Mississauga or Toronto or anywhere in Ontario would love the idea of Crawley's previous company's involvement in damaging Ontario's waterways.    

"A second senior Grit blamed “our friends across the aisle” — the Progressive Conservatives — for the “negative campaign” they would unleash, adding Crawley “didn’t want to subject his family” to it...

"A third wasn’t convinced. “Say what you want, but he had the talent to weather whatever story might’ve come out..”

Based on what data?  What he actually did dropping out before even starting?  Talk about delusional.  

Please, Ontario Liberals, let's do a better job finding and supporting decent leadership candidates with actual political skills and experience with a background that can inspire and unite Ontarians.