Naqvi ‘exploring’ bid to lead Ontario Liberals

‘Our party is at a crossroads,’ Ottawa MP says

Former attorney general Yasir Naqvi says he is actively considering a bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.

Naqvi, currently the Liberal MP for Ottawa Centre, was at the Ontario legislature on Wednesday assessing the lay of the land.

“I’m seriously exploring it,” he said in an interview in the Star’s third-floor Queen’s Park bureau.

“I’ve been talking to people from across the province and getting very strong encouragement that I should consider running for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership.”

A former provincial Liberal president and cabinet minister, Naqvi is well-known and well-regarded in party circles.

But the affable political veteran is mindful of the challenges that face a party hoping to defeat Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in the 2026 election.

“Our party is at a crossroads right now,” said the lawyer and single father of two children.

“We need somebody who has the experience and competence to rebuild the party and build a robust team with a platform that would undo the kind of damage that Doug Ford is doing to our province.”

Naqvi, whose vast Liberal network extends to every part of Ontario, has privately consulted with former Grit premiers Kathleen Wynne, Dalton McGuinty and David Peterson as well as former NDP premier Bob Rae about the daunting task ahead.

While he was mentioned as a potential candidate in the 2020 leadership won by Steven Del Duca, he opted against jumping in at that time for family reasons. “That was not the right moment,” he said.

Del Duca, who resigned after Ford’s re-election June 2, is now mayor of Vaughan.

An MPP from 2007 to 2018, Naqvi also served as Wynne’s house leader, labour minister, and community and social services minister.

Although he lost Ottawa Centre provincially to New Democrat Joel Harden — collateral damage, like dozens of Liberals, in the first Ford landslide — he won the same seat federally in 2021.

If he takes the Liberal crown, Naqvi, who moved to Canada from Pakistan as a 15-year-old, would make Ontario political history as the first person of colour to lead a major provincial party.

The Liberals are expected to determine the parameters of their leadership election in the new year.