TORONTO — Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful Nate Erskine-Smith lost a nomination race Saturday in Scarborough Southwest, raising questions about his path toward seeking the party leadership.Ontario Liberal members in the riding selected businessman Ahsanul Hafiz as the party’s candidate for an upcoming provincial byelection, defeating Erskine-Smith by a narrow margin.Erskine-Smith, the federal Liberal MP for the neighbouring riding of Beaches–East York, had planned to use the byelection as a route into Queen’s Park ahead of a possible leadership campaign for the Ontario Liberals.Following the vote, Erskine-Smith suggested he may challenge the results, saying he lost by 19 votes out of more than 1,400 ballots cast.“There was a ton of scrutineers in there, lots of stories about what’s happened inside, but I’ve got to debrief,” Erskine-Smith told reporters outside the polling location.“I’ve spoken to a few scrutineers already who said they’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s unreal what happened in there.”He alleged there were concerns involving voter identification issues, although his campaign’s chief scrutineers ultimately signed off on the final results..Hafiz rejected suggestions that the process was unfair, saying the visible support for his campaign reflected the outcome.“So that is the clear evidence of who is the real winner,” Hafiz said, adding the Ontario Liberal Party handled the nomination process well.The race became closely watched because of its implications for the Ontario Liberal leadership contest, which began after former leader Bonnie Crombie resigned earlier this year.Erskine-Smith received a late endorsement boost from Prime Minister Mark Carney, who appeared in a social media video expressing support for his candidacy and saying he hoped to see him working for Scarborough residents.Some local Liberals criticized Erskine-Smith’s candidacy, arguing the riding should not be used as a stepping stone for leadership ambitions.Former provincial candidate Qadira Jackson, who also sought the nomination, said she wanted the riding represented by someone with stronger local ties. Jackson and Hafiz agreed to rank each other second on the race’s ranked ballots.“I don’t want my riding to be used as a tool,” Jackson said.Erskine-Smith responded by noting Hafiz had spent much of his career in London, Ont., operating Domino’s Pizza franchises before returning to Scarborough, where he first settled after immigrating to Canada roughly 25 years ago.Hafiz now becomes the Liberal candidate in a byelection Premier Doug Ford is expected to call by the summer.Scarborough Southwest became vacant after former NDP MPP Doly Begum resigned earlier this year to run federally for the Liberals.The Ontario Liberal leadership race currently includes caucus member and former hospital executive Lee Fairclough and political strategist Dylan Marando as official candidates. Other possible contenders include former federal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains, Liberal MPP Rob Cerjanec and housing advocate Eric Lombardi.The next leader will become the party’s fourth since 2018.
