Kingston MPP Ted Hsu Announces Bid for Ontario Liberal Party Leadership

Kingston MPP Ted Hsu has officially announced he will run for leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Hsu announced his run for party leadership at an event at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour on May 28. Rob Baker, lead guitarist for Kingston’s The Tragically Hip, introduced Hsu at the event.

“I think people are done with simple solutions,” Hsu said, “With simple black-and-white pictures of the world. They’re … wanting a politician, politics that they can trust, an authentic connection. That’s how I believe that people bring a fresh start to the Ontario Liberal Party.”

He added that the Ontario Liberal Party “has lost its connection to rural, small-town and northern Ontario,” according to the Kingston Whig-Standard. He said he would focus on health care, housing, cost of living, and climate change.

Hsu was a federal Liberal MP for Kingston and the Islands from 2011 to 2015. He was elected to provincial parliament in the 2022 Ontario election.

His riding encompasses both urban and rural areas, including farms, tech start-ups, a military base, multiple prisons, hospitals, a mine, and five ferries.

Hsu, one of seven Liberal MPPs, says the Liberal Party needs a “fresh start” with Ontarians since losing power in 2018.

Hsu, who is married with two daughters, has a degree in physics and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He previously worked in the finance sector, for a trading firm, then a bank in France, and eventually in Tokyo for Morgan Stanley.

He will be going up against federal Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, from Toronto, among others. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Ottawa MP Yasir Naqvi have also expressed interest in throwing their names into the hat.

The party will choose a new leader on Dec. 2 and candidates must register by September.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.