ONTARIO VOTES 2025: Who from municipal politics is running?
Here's the current list of candidates running in the Ontario provincial election from municipal government backgrounds
For the first time since 1981, Ontario is getting a winter election as Premier Doug Ford called one to take place on February 27th, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still around as the incumbent leader to be kicked around on the campaign trail.
But Trudeau might not be the shiny target he once was, having announced he would resign both as PM and federal Liberal leader by March 9th when the party selects a new leader. In fact, since the resignation announcement the Liberals, leaderless, have bounced back in the public opinion polls.
As for Ford, he has pivoted to another strategy: saying he will “Protect Ontario” from US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose significant tarrifs on Canadian imports to America and threatened to use ‘economic force’ in a bizarre attempt to ‘annex’ Canada as the 51st US State.
Despite this fascinating backdrop for this provincial election, the main focus of this issue is how many municipal politicians have entered the fray to try “levelling up” to the provincial level.
While I am putting more emphasis towards current or former councillors, former municipal candidates who were not elected to local offices may be mentioned at my discretion. I also recognize that I don’t know everything, so if I missed any mentions, the humblest of apologies.
BRAMPTON CENTRE: The Liberals have selected Brampton Wards 3 and 4 Regional Councillor Martin Medeiros to face PC MPP Charmaine Williams, his former Council colleague and current Associate Minister of Women's Social and Economic Opportunity.
BRAMPTON EAST: Former Brampton city councillor Vicky Dhillon is running for the Liberals here. Dhillon was on Brampton Council from 2006 to 2014. The riding went PC in 2022 and PC MPP Hardeep Grewal is running again.
BRUCE-GREY-OWEN SOUND: One term PC MPP Rick Byers opted not to seek a second term. Grey Highlands Councillor Joel Loughead is standing as the Ontario Green candidate. Liberal candidate Selwyn Hicks is a former Hanover councillor from 2006 to 2022, serving as Grey County Warden in 2019 and 2021.
CAMBRIDGE: Former North Dumfries mayor and Kitchener regional councillor Robert Deutschmann is running for the Liberals. Deutschmann, who was mayor from 2010 to 2014, stepped down from his Waterloo Regional Council seat, which he’s held for the past 6 years, to take on PC MPP Brian Riddell.
CARLETON: While Liberal candidate Brandon Bay, a software developer, was an also ran in the 2022 Ottawa mayoral election, the Tories are fielding Osgoode Ward Councillor George Darouze. MPP Goldie Ghamari is not running again; she was removed from the PC caucus in 2024 after having met with a British far right figure and getting embroiled in various other controversies.
DON VALLEY NORTH: Liberal candidate Jonathan Tsao was previously an appointed Toronto city councillor for about six months in 2018, but the real story may be Vincent Ke, the former PC MPP running as an Independent.
Ke, elected under the PCs in 2018 and 2022, stepped down from the caucus in 2023 amidst allegations of involvement in Chinese government election interference.
DUFFERIN-CALEDON: This riding has been held since 2007 by the current Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, PC Sylvia Jones. The Liberals are running Erin Mayor Michael Dehn and the Greens have as their candidate former Orangeville mayor Sandy Brown.
ETOBICOKE CENTRE: Former Toronto city councillor John Campbell is running for the Liberals here against PC Kinga Surma, who served as Ford’s Infrastructure Minister in the last Parliament and has been an MPP since 2018.
GLENGARRY-PRESCOTT-RUSSELL: Clarence-Rockland Councillor Trevor Stewart is running for the Liberals as PC MPP Stéphane Sarrazin is seeking a second term. Sarrazin himself is a former mayor in nearby Alfred and Plantagenet.
HALDIMAND-NORFOLK: This race may be a personal one for the PC brand as a whole. Bobbi Ann Brady was elected in 2022 against a well known local mayor selected by the central party over the objections of local riding members. She received the endorsement of her former boss’, former MPP Toby Barrett.
But the Tories are hoping to regain this historically deep blue riding with another well known Mayor: Amy Martin of Norfolk County. For more of this ongoing drama, read this piece from the Simcoe Reformer on why Ford himself has no love for this Independent MPP.
HAMILTON MOUNTAIN: NDP MPP Monique Taylor decided to move on to run federally, so the NDP selected former Hamilton Ward 14 candidate Kojo Damptey as their man to try keeping the riding, which has been orange since 2011 when Taylor was first elected.
KENORA-RAINY RIVER: Former Emo Township councillor Anthony Leek, who has run for the Liberals here in 2011, 2014 and 2022, is their candidate once again. Leek faces NDP candidate Rudy Turtle, Chief of the Grassy Narrows First Nations and PC MPP and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford.
KITCHENER CENTRE: The Greens scored an upset in a recent by-election, taking this seat from the NDP with Kitchener councillor Aislinn Clancy. Clancy is seeking reelection, but she faces another municipal politician in the form of Colleen James, a Waterloo Regional Councillor representing Kitchener who is running for the Liberals.
LAMBTON-KENT-MIDDLESEX: After putting the Liberals back into at least second place in a 2024 by-election, Lucan Biddulph Mayor Cathy Burghardt-Jesson is once again running for the Grits. The PCs have held this riding since 2011 and PC MPP Steve Pinsonneault is running again.
LANARK-FRONTENAC-KINGSTON: Tay Valley Township Reeve Rob Rainer is running for the Liberals against PC MPP John Jordan who is seeking reelection.
LONDON NORTH CENTRE: London Ward 5 Councillor Jerry Pribil, who was also the 2022 PC candidate, is running once again to oust NDP MPP Terence Kernaghan, who has been MPP since 2018.
MARKHAM-THORNHILL: Former York Region Councillor Nirmala Armstrong is running as the Liberal candidate in this riding. PC MPP Logan Kanapathi, himself a former Markham councillor, is running again.
MILTON: In the recent by-election, the PCs selected former councillor and 2022 mayoral candidate Zeeshan Hamid, who went on to hold this seat for the Conservatives. Hamid is running again, and the Liberals have selected current Milton Ward 1 Councillor Kristina Tesser Derksen to be their standard bearer.
MISSISSAUGA EAST-COOKSVILLE: The Liberal leader herself and former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie selected this riding to run in, but an interesting situation has developed locally as Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s mother-in-law, Silvia Gualtieri, is standing as the PC candidate.
Brown has endorsed Ford and has not been quiet about his criticisims of Crombie, who heavily pushed for the dissolution of Peel Region which Brown fought against. Gualtieri also happens to be the sister of Mississauga Lakeshore PC MPP Rudy Cuzzetto, himself seeking reelection in that riding.
NEWMARKET-AURORA: PC MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy is seeking a second term, while the Liberal are running former MPP and cabinet minister Chris Ballard. Ballard served less than one term as Aurora town councillor and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2018.
NIAGARA CENTRE: This riding is an NDP stronghold, but the PCs have been making inroads in some usually traditional NDP territory. NDP MPP Jeff Burch is running again but is facing Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele as the PC candidate.
NIAGARA WEST: Meanwhile right next door, former Pelham mayor Dave Augustyn is running for the NDP is this predominently rural riding consisting of Grimsby, Pelham, Lincoln, West Lincoln and Wainsfleet. It will be a bit of an uphill climb to oust PC MPP Sam Oosterhoff.
NICKEL BELT: Veteran NDP MPP France Gelinas is running again, having served in the Legislature since 2007. The PCs are once again running former French River township councillor Randy Hazlett while the Liberals are fielding Greater Sudbury Ward 7 Councillor Natalie Labbee.
Labbee found herself in hot water recently in a post (since deleted) in which she said the Liberal pledge to double ODSP rates were ‘excessive’.
NIPISSING: He may be a former North Bay mayor and already an MPP for 13 years and counting, but just wanted to give a shout out to Vic Fedeli who was rear ended by a tractor trailer last week. Fedeli, who is running for reelection, was checked for precautionary measures at the hospital but was fine, even managing to attend the party leaders’ Northern debate the same day.
OSHAWA: While New Blue candidate Joe Ingino once ran for mayor, the real story is Liberal candidate Viresh Bansal’s controversial anti-Sikh and homophobic comments he made in 2023 on social media.
Despite even one of Bansal’s fellow candidates from Brampton, Vicky Dhillon, calling for him to step aside, the Oshawa Liberal apologized and continues to run and Crombie herself has not called for Bansal to step down.
UPDATE: The OLP has announced they are suspending Bansal’s campaign, with Crombie responding to the candidate’s past comments: "I don't stand for them. They don't reflect who I am. I don't think they reflect the values of the Ontario Liberal Party. And I had asked this morning for an apology and I believe one has been issued to the Sikh community and also to the LGBTQ community as well.”
OTTAWA CENTRE: With NDP MPP Joel Harden not seeking another term to run federally in the same riding, the provincial New Democrats selected the highest profile person I think they’ve found in the municipal realm: former Ottawa councillor and 2022 mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney, who placed a strong second to current incumbent Mayor Mark Sutcliffe that year.
OXFORD: Current Ingersoll Councillor Khadijah Haliru is running for the Ontario NDP in this riding consisting entirely of Oxford County, a riding that’s been held since 1995 by PC MPP Ernie Hardeman, who is running again.
RENFREW-NIPISSING-PEMBROKE: Liberal candidate Oliver Jacob is a former councillor from McNab/Braeside Township from 2018-2022. Longtime MPP John Yakabuski, having served since 2003, decided not to run again and the PCs selected Arnprior Councillor William (Billy) Denault as their candidate.
SARNIA-LAMBTON: Former Sarnia city councillor Nathan Colquhoun is running as an Independent candidate against PC candidate Bob Bailey, who has been the MPP for the riding since 2007. Colquhoun ran for Sarnia Mayor in 2022, losing to incumbent Mike Bradley.
SAULT STE. MARIE: PC MPP and cabinet minister Ross Romano is not running for another term. He was a former Sault Ste. Marie councillor and the NDP have selected another Councillor, Ward 2 incumbent Lisa Vezeau-Allen, to try to put the Soo back in the orange column.
ST. CATHERINES: In a 2022 rematch that’s also morphed into somewhat of a battle of the Councillors, Niagara Regional Councillor Sal Sorrento, who ran for the PCs in 2022, is once again looking to defeat NDP MPP Jennie Stevens. They are joined this time by St. Catherines City Councillor Robin McPherson as the Liberal candidate in this race.
THUNDER BAY-SUPERIOR NORTH: First term NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois is seeking a second term, but she faces stiff competition from Liberal candidate and McKellar Ward Councillor Brian Hamilton and Marathon Township Mayor Rick Dumas running for the PCs.
Hamilton has also gotten in hot water over past social media comments he made in 2014 praising former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi after the radio personality was accused of sexual assault and harassment of women.
TIMISKAMING-COCHRANE: Green candidate Kris Rivard is a Councillor for the Municipality of West Nipissing. NDP MPP John Vanthof is seeking another term.
WELLINGTON-HALTON HILLS: If St. Catherines was offering match between two current councillors, this riding may have a fatal four way as veteran PC MPP and Speaker of the Legislature Ted Arnott steps aside after 35 years in office.
Halton Hills Council will see two of their sitting members, Ward 1 Councillor Alex Hilson running for the Liberals and Ward 2 Councillor Joseph Racinsky, running for the PCs, face off. Meanwhile over in Centre Wellington, the Greens are running Councillor Bronwynne Wilton and former councillor Stephen Kitras is running for the New Blue Party.
Advanced polls open this weekend from Februray 20 to 22 from 10 am to 8 pm at your local locations. Check your voter cards to find out where they are or go on the Elections Ontario website.
Election Day is February 27th. GO VOTE!