Premier Ford calls three provincial byelections for Sept. 3

Premier Doug Ford has announced the date for three provincial byelections.

Voters in Scarborough Southwest, York-Simcoe and Hamilton East-Stoney Creek will go to the polls on Sept. 3.

Businessman Ahsanul Hafiz defeated former MP Nate Erskine-Smith by 19 votes in a hotly contested race for the Liberal nomination back in May.

Erskine-Smith, who represented the neighbouring federal riding of Beaches-East York, was hoping to win the provincial byelection in order to secure a seat in the legislature ahead of a likely bid for the Ontario Liberal leadership. He has since scrapped those plans.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser has acknowledged the party faces an uphill battle in Scarborough Southwest.

“It’s a lot of work for us,” he said last month. “It’s like starting from scratch. Our candidate (Ahsanul) Hafiz has been out there working hard, knocking on doors, and lots of Liberals have been out.”

The Ontario PCs have named Dr. Noor Tarun as their candidate while Fatima Shaban will look to keep the seat in the NDP’s hands. The Green Party have nominated Mark Bekkering as their candidate.

A byelection became necessary after Doly Begum, who had held the riding for the NDP since 2018, vacated the seat in February in order to run as a Liberal candidate in the same federal riding. In that election, she defeated Shaban.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who was in the riding earlier Wednesday, said there are thousands of signs up already for their candidate.

“Byelections are not won on television,” she said. “Byelections are won on the doorsteps, so we are going to be working very hard to hold Scarborough Southwest with our amazing candidate Fatima Shaban, who’s a relentless fighter for our community.”

The Conservatives will look to keep the seats vacated in York-Simcoe by Caroline Mulroney and in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, which had been represented by Neil Lumsden.

Jeff Beattie has been named as the PC candidate in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, while the Green Party have named Pascale Marchand as their candidate. The Liberals have named Heino Doessing, who ran against Lumsden in the last provincial election, as their candidate. The NDP has typically performed well in Hamilton, but the Progressive Conservatives have made inroads in recent years. They are putting their faith in a familiar face. Monique Taylor, who represented the neighbouring riding of Hamilton Mountain for the NDP in the legislature for 14 years, is their byelection candidate.

Small business owner Susan Lahey will carry the PC colours in York-Simcoe while York Region councillor Naomi Davison is running for the Liberals. Businessman Matt Pearce is the Liberal nominee while the NDP have nominated education worker Bobby Nikmard. The Tories are expected to easily hold the riding, where Mulroney and her predecessor Julia Munro won with wide margins over many elections. 

The by-elections could prove to be a litmus test of the Ford government, which has seen its popularity wane in the last year.

An Angus Reid survey in June found Ford’s approval rating among voters at its lowest point since his government was first elected in 2018 while a Liaison Strategies poll had the Liberals with a narrow lead over the Conservatives.

Advanced voting will run from August 26 to 28.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report