Adil Shamji bows out of Liberal leadership race, throws support behind Crombie
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Posted September 28, 2023 6:28 pm.
Last Updated September 28, 2023 8:07 pm.
The Ontario Liberal leadership race is now down to just four candidates.
On Thursday night, Adil Shamji announced that he was dropping out of the race and throwing his support behind Bonnie Crombie.
Shamji, who is the MPP for Don Valley East, issued a statement saying he realized he wasn’t going to win and decided to bow out and support the Mississauga mayor.
“From the very beginning, I have known that with four spectacular candidates in the race and myself, only one can come out as leader of our party,” he wrote. “Today, I acknowledge that this leader will not be me.
“I will continue my campaign in a different capacity, still fighting for healthcare, housing, education, and the environment, but from now on, behind Bonnie Crombie and her team. It is a tremendous privilege to work with someone as committed to public service as Bonnie is, someone who possesses the unique talent of getting people excited and bringing them together behind a common vision.”
Shamji added that Crombie “has a level of experience and strength that inspires confidence in Ontarians. She has inspired confidence in me throughout this campaign.”
Earlier this month, Crombie announced she was taking an unpaid leave of absence from her municipal duties this fall to focus on her bid to become the next Liberal leader.
Crombie has led the pack in fundraising and has been the target of other candidates’ criticism in the first debates of the leadership race.
She said Shamji is a “brilliant and dedicated” provincial representative and she is glad to have him on her team.
“Adil and I agree that Doug Ford’s government has got to go in 2026 and we need every Liberal pulling in the same direction to make that happen,” Crombie wrote in a statement.
“Today is clear evidence that we as Ontario Liberals are going to be a united force that will bring down this self-serving scandal-plagued Doug Ford government as soon as we can.”
Remaining in the race along with Crombie are Toronto MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Ottawa MP Yasir Naqvi, and Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu.
Party members will cast their votes by ranked ballot on November 25 and 26, with the Liberals set to announce round-by-round results the following weekend and a new leader on Dec. 2 to replace Steven Del Duca.
Del Duca resigned after the party did not win enough seats in last year’s election to have official party status at the legislature for the second campaign in a row. He has since been elected mayor of Vaughan.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report