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Bonnie Crombie, Ontario’s Liberal leader, distanced herself from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the federal party’s byelection loss on Monday.
“I probably speak to the prime minister less than once a year,” she told Global News in an exclusive video interview released Tuesday.
The ruling party lost a seat in the Liberal stronghold of Toronto—St. Paul’s, raising questions over whether the federal party is hampering its provincial cousins.
Crombie, a former Liberal MP, emphasized the relationship between Doug Ford and minimized the perceived closeness of her and Trudeau.
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“I think the bigger friend is Doug Ford, is the closer friend of Justin Trudeau,” Crombie said in the interview, adding: “You see them in photographs and in meetings together.”
Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservatives have previously launched ads that portray Crombie as a Trudeau Liberal.
One ad calls her the “queen of the carbon tax,” a line Ford repeated in a post on X this April, for supporting a federal carbon tax as a Liberal MP from 2008 to 2011.
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Crombie, who has vowed to “rebuild, and re-energize local Liberals” on her official website, said to Global her policies are “different” from the prime minister’s.
“You know the brand is myself, and the team I have around me and our policies are different, my ideological standing is a bit different,” the former Mississauga said.
“I’m much more of a centrist,” Crombie said.
Trudeau has said his party has “more work to do” following Monday’s loss.
“These are not easy times, and it’s clear that I and my entire Liberal team have much more work to do to deliver tangible, real progress,” he said.
Crombie declined to say whether whether her party would be helped if he were to step down.
“I respect our PM,” Crombie began.
“I’ve worked very closely with him,” she noted, before adding: “I’m not going to make any comment about our federal party.”
Ontario’s next general election is scheduled for June 2026, but Ford could call a snap election ahead of schedule.
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