Kingston MPP Ted Hsu Announces Bid for Ontario Liberal Party Leadership

Then-federal Liberal MP Ted Hsu, who is now an Ontario Liberal MPP, holds a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 26, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

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.