Victoria Park Avenue, a bustling street in Scarborough lined with shops and restaurants reflecting the area's multicultural fabric, also represents a divide for the Ontario Liberal Party. On its west side lies Beaches-East York, represented federally by the occasionally controversial Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith. To the east is Scarborough Southwest, the riding Erskine-Smith hopes to lead for the provincial Liberals.
A Controversial Candidate
Local Liberals will choose their nominee for a byelection expected this summer on Saturday. Erskine-Smith, who was briefly in the federal Liberal cabinet under Mark Carney before being demoted—a move he said made him feel 'disrespected'—has dominated the conversation. The Oxford-educated 41-year-old, who has represented Beaches-East York for 11 years, has been labeled an outsider and interloper, accused of using Scarborough Southwest to further his ambitions of leading the party and potentially the province. One rival candidate sniffed to the Toronto Star, 'He’s from the Beaches, right?' as if the neighbouring ridings were worlds apart.
Skepticism and Opposition
Erskine-Smith has faced skepticism from the small Ontario Liberal caucus and raised concerns that party staffers are working against him. An 'anyone-but-Nate' movement has emerged, with candidates forming a pact to encourage supporters to back each other as second choices on the ranked nomination ballot. This drama unfolds in a byelection of little consequence, given Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives hold a comfortable majority and the next general election is at least three years away.
Outsider Appeal?
The key questions are whether Scarborough Southwest Liberals want a Beaches representative and whether an outsider is what the party needs after three straight losses to Ford, whom they often dismiss as a folksy buffoon backed by big business. Erskine-Smith does not hide his ambitions. He intends to seek the Ontario Liberal leadership in November—having lost the last contest to Bonnie Crombie—and sees winning a seat at Queen’s Park as the first step. The seat became vacant when former NDP MPP Doly Begun resigned to run federally after Liberal MP Bill Blair left for a post in the U.K.
