Former Cambridge mayor and MPP seeks new role as Ontario Liberal Party president

Former Cambridge mayor and MPP Kathryn McGarry is seeking a new political role.

McGarry is one of three candidates running to be president of the Ontario Liberal Party. The party's current president, Brian Johns, announced in July 2022 that he would not seek another term in the role.

McGarry is facing Natalie Hart of Mississauga and Fadi El Masry of Ottawa for the role.

The past five years have been a tumultuous time for Ontario Liberal Party. The party was defeated in 2018. In the days before the election, then party leader Kathleen Wynne admitted she couldn't win and encouraged people to vote NDP to prevent the Progressive Conservatives from winning a majority. The PCs went on to win a majority in 2018.

In the early part of March 2020, Steven Del Duca was elected the new Ontario Liberal leader, but he failed to connect with voters. He resigned in June 2022 after losing his riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge north of Toronto and as the PCs won a second majority.

The party is currently led by interim Leader John Fraser. A spokesperson for the party said there's no set timeline yet for when a new leader will be chosen and party members must first determine the rules of the race at its annual meeting in March.

Candidates make their pitches

McGarry was the MPP for Cambridge from 2014 to 2018, when she was defeated by then Progressive Conservative Belinda Karahalios.

In the fall of 2018, McGarry ran for, and won, the mayor's seat in the city. She ran again in October 2022, but was defeated by then-councillor Jan Liggett.

On her website, McGarry says there's a need for the party to have a "strong executive council team and an energized team of volunteers" so that "we can roll up our sleeves and lay the groundwork for victory in 2026."

"After two devastating losses in back-to-back campaigns, we need to get back to basics and build our movement from our membership up," McGarry's website says.

Hart's website says most recently she's served as the party's regional vice-president for central west. Hart, who lives in Mississauga, who says on her website that "there is no mythical big red machine" and it's important to mobilize volunteers and supporters.

"With the vast majority of our ridings unheld, we need to be a grassroots party," Hart's website says. "We each need to make growing this party our personal mission."

El Masry says he grew up in Hamilton and became a member of the party when he was 14, volunteering and working as a staffer and campaign manager.

"The truth is that our election losses are symptoms of a bigger challenge with our party's culture and the way we do things," he said in a release in December when he announced he would seek the role.

"If we want to earn the support of our friends and neighbours, and be a force for good in their lives, we have to change."

The Ontario Liberal Party is set to hold its annual meeting March 3 to 5 in Hamilton.