Mayor responds to critics who say her focus is off Mississauga in Liberal leadership bid

As Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie campaigns to be leader of the provincial Liberals, critics have said her focus is now divided.

This weekend (Aug. 19 and 20), Crombie heads to Cornwall, Brockville, Perth, Napanee and Peterborough, according to a post on her Liberal leadership campaign Twitter account. She was in Midland yesterday (Aug. 16).

And people have taken to social media to voice their opinions on the mayor’s campaign trips.

“Bonnie Crombie is campaigning for the Liberal leadership while being paid to be mayor of Mississauga. It’s impossible for her to do both,” one person wrote.

“Psst.. when you will actually focus on the Mayor of Mississauga again? You know the Job we pay you to do,” another wrote.

Crombie said her focus is still on Mississauga.

“I take my job very seriously as mayor,” Crombie said in an interview with insauga.com founder and publisher Khaled Iwamura. “I go to extra events. I always go to everything, every festival, every ribbon cutting, every anniversary, every parade…”

But she admits she has “cut that back a little bit.”

Crombie said she still attends many events and comes into the office. She was a the Port Credit Library re-opening this week. 

“I have cut back on some of the evenings and some of the weekends for events and activities that are in place,” she said.

Crombie adds that there is a protocol in place, if she is not available, a councillor will become an acting mayor as they would if she were on vacation.

Crombie faces four contenders in the Liberal leadership race: Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP and former provincial cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi, and current provincial Liberal caucus members Ted Hsu and Adil Shamji.

Liberal Party members will cast ranked ballots on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023 and Sunday, Nov. 26.

For more information, see the website here.

Liberal leadership. How do you respond to critics who say your focus is no longer on Mississauga? pic.twitter.com/q5HgvlOlVC

— insauga (@insauga) August 16, 2023