Bonnie Crombie hasn't been Liberal leader for three weeks and the Progressive Conservatives are already rolling out the attack ads.
She sat down to talk to us and started with her warm welcome from Premier Doug Ford — including clearing the air about developers, private jets and second homes in fancy locales.
We touch on the Peel dissolution, whether she'd pursue it as premier, her evolution on housing and yes-in-my-backyard politics, and why Christmas Eve is the big holiday in the Crombie household.
For the readers among us, we've included a transcript.
Aidan Chamandy
Hello politicos and welcome to another episode of The Trill, a podcast by The Trillium. My name is Aidan Chamandy. I'm a reporter here at The Trillium.
Jessica Smith Cross
I'm editor Jessica Smith Cross.
Bonnie Crombie
And I'm Bonnie Crombie, the mayor of the City of Mississauga and the new leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Aidan Chamandy
So, Bonnie, it's Dec. 20, early in the morning here. You know, we're coming up on the Christmas season, does the Crombie family have any quirky, interesting or fun Christmas traditions that you want people to know about?
Bonnie Crombie
Absolutely. So, you know that I'm Polish by background, and Eastern Europeans tend to celebrate Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day. So we have a very meatless Christmas Eve tradition where we serve seafood. And so I've just been preparing mine, and giving some thought to that. I'll have my kids and my mother over for Christmas Eve dinner. But, lots of holiday celebrations, because two of my children are engaged to be married. So there'll be festivities with the new in-laws to be, which sound like a lot of fun and, yeah, and my partner is hosting his family as well. So there'll be lots of holiday celebrations this year. It'll be a very joyous time in the Crombie household.
Jessica Smith Cross
That sounds lovely. And now I want to ask you about something a little bit less lovely.
Bonnie Crombie
Okay.
Jessica Smith Cross
Your victory in the leadership race was welcomed by the Progressive Conservatives with attack ads. So, apparently, this was done with some glee on their part. Kory Teneycke told this story on a recent episode of the Curse of Politics podcast, about how he was screening these attack ads at his firm's holiday party to anybody who would watch. Apparently, it made Steven Del Duca a little uncomfortable. So Teneycke sounded just sort of giddy about the whole thing that was coming for you. What do you think about this kind of approach to politics?
Bonnie Crombie
Well, that's unfortunate. You know, Kory Teneycke is someone I've known for a very long time. In fact, he invited me to his wedding this past summer. So, I think that's very sad and unfortunate for Kory. But this is the risk when strong women put their name forward to run for office. And this is a scandal-plagued desperate government that's flailing, that's looking for distraction. So what better than to create false, baseless allegations against the new leader? And obviously, I'm a threat. I didn't see these kinds of attack ads against the NDP leader Marit Stiles when she was elected. And I also recall that the premier texted or tweeted a welcome to Marit Stiles, congratulated her when she took the helm at the NDP. And, of course, I think, a mine must still be in the snail mail.
Jessica Smith Cross
Oh boy. One of the things that they're targeting is stuff like your home on Long Island, not the Hamptons, I gather. The premier got up in the house and made this allegation that they haven't substantiated yet, and that you clearly deny, about flying on a private jet with a developer. Is there anything you want to clarify but what they've had to say about you so far?
Bonnie Crombie
I've absolutely never been on a private jet with a developer, and, in fact, I don't fly on private jets, and any allegation is absolutely unsubstantiated and false. With respect to our home, my former husband and I inherited a family home from his aunt and uncle, who didn't have children. It is in a very working-class town and in town called Patchogue, Long Island, which is actually closer to Queens than it would be the Hamptons. It's a very humble home. And that's it. But, you know, I think that these allegations, again, are designed to distract from the realities of a scandal-plagued government that isn't dealing with the issues that Ontarians are facing. And as the mayor of a great city, I heard firsthand how people are suffering. And in my travels as a candidate for leadership, I travelled across the province and the problems that plague larger cities are far more acute in the small towns in the rural communities in the northern communities, where they suffer from a lack of access to public health care, where affordability is through the roof where there are mental health challenges. Thunder Bay and Sudbury suffer from three times the opioid use and suicide rate as the City of Toronto where we know the problem is very bad and very desperate. Mental health, mental illness issues — this is a government that's trying to distract from the issues that they're not dealing with head-on, the suffering of Ontarians. And they're trying to change the channel very desperately. So when I meet people, I ask them, is their life more affordable today than it was before Doug Ford, you know, or is their suffering greater. And quite frankly, people are challenged. They're suffering deeply. I have single moms who are using food banks because they can't make their rent payments, children, youth who are losing the dream of owning their own home, if they can find a rental that they can afford. People who are using walk in clinics because they don't have access to a family doctor. And this is a government who would prefer to create to attack ads, millions of dollars being spent on attack ads, rather than dealing with the issues facing Ontarians today.
Jessica Smith Cross
We spend a lot of time reporting about all of these issues. We report on bills as they make the progress through the House — the overhaul of the health care system, for instance, doing reporting on that, but that's not what seems to be getting the attention in Ontario politics right now. And what has been, a lot of it has had to do with the premier's relationship with the developers. Your party has made allegations that its donations from them that compelled his government to make the decisions that it did on the Greenbelt, which has been, you know, the story of the century for this government. So, you know, I should be upfront: we figured fair's fair and we took a look at the donations from developers to your municipal campaigns. So I would love to know what you think about, you know, the kind of scrutiny you've gotten from us and from other media outlets, and about the issue in general.
Bonnie Crombie
So, in my mayoral campaigns, clearly, these are partners in homebuilding. I have a very excellent relationship with many of them, as I should as mayor. And nobody gets a free ride from me. And I think you know that a certain, certainly leadership candidates, accused me of being an nimby, but we are building housing in Mississauga. But I follow the rules to the letter and the T. Of course, I would. With respect to the Ford government's relationship with the developers, I think the lines have blurred. He's mistaken these individuals who are stakeholders and partners in homebuilding as friends. And we see that while Ontarians are suffering, and they're facing an affordability crisis, there are people who are getting ahead, and the Ford government has chosen to reward their rich friends who have enriched their party. And these are paybacks and favours given to a very small group, a very elite group of wealthy developers that are invited to the Ford government's daughter's stag and doe parties, to the stags, the showers, the weddings. I mean, my own daughter, we had an engagement party for her a couple months ago, and it was immediate family and extended family and it would never cross my mind to invite stakeholders to my daughter's private function, which is her engagement, or her wedding. This is for family and friends. So the lines have blurred for them. They think these individuals are their friends, and they're not their friends. And there needs to be a very healthy respect that these are people you do business with. And the lines have to be very firm, as they are for me in Mississauga. These are people I do business with. I see them as partners in homebuilding, but they're not my friends.
Aidan Chamandy
Switching directions quickly to the Peel dissolution. Would you pursue the Peel dissolution as premier?
Bonnie Crombie
So I'll say two things: I think the premier is walking back yet another commitment. So this is a government driving backwards. We've seen the number of reversals, starting with Peel dissolution, the municipal boundary expansions, the Greenbelt, of course, the most famous one, the not notwithstanding clause, but there were others that people have forgotten about: license plates, the commitment made to parents with autistic children, public health, e-learning — I mean, it goes on and on — Laurentian University, Sudbury University, legal aid, the Hamilton LRT, which was on and off and on, again. My goodness, renewable energy contracts. York University's Markham campus. You know, I'm reading off these commitments — in fact, the TMU medical school, there are so many reversals. This is a government that can't be trusted. They're not moving forward. They don't do their due diligence. It's so important before you announce a policy that you've done your homework. That's what Hazel McCallion would have said. But what has this government done? They've backtracked on a promise to a matriarch who led my city, who I know very well that the premier visited in her final days and made that commitment to as, as do a number of my other councillors. We know that commitment was made, that premier stood up when he eulogized her, and and announced that he would fulfill her wishes. And now he's backtracking on that as well. So it is something that I would pursue because I know it makes sense. I know it makes sense for taxpayers, Brampton taxpayers, Caledon taxpayers, and of course, Mississauga taxpayers. So, so far to date, the dissolution has been paused, but the agreements made by the transition board to to fulfill the changes that they have proposed to date are going forward, and the work will continue and perhaps at a better rate — maybe it was overly ambitious to dissolve peel by January 1, 2025. So it will be, stage one is, is underway and being completed and I look forward to further stages of the ongoing dissolution of the Region of Peel.
Aidan Chamandy
And so I want to change topics again to housing because I know we are a little short on time. So, I don't think there's any real denying that, you know, Mississauga has, for quite a while not just under your, your leadership, not built enough housing to keep up with population growth, and is, you know, now quite expensive, like many other cities in Ontario. But everything you put forward in a leadership race was ambitious, what people kind of in the housing space are asking for, based on housing affordability task force recommendations. So why the change what made you realize more needed to be done?
Bonnie Crombie
I'm very progressive leader, as you well know, and I have, some of my councillors are equally very progressive, but change is difficult. And I have some longstanding councillors that are not quite as progressive. And so I will say that we are embracing change and we have 33 cranes in the ground right now building 11,000 units. I have a 60,000 permits that can be pulled some of them as of right, some of them longstanding that can be built upon. We're very proud of the new developments. Lakeview on the water, Brightwater on the water, uptown, downtown, I have 130 towers, unlimited heights and density in my downtown with a new LRT being built. We'd love that loop around the downtown, which had been a commitment made by the premier, another commitment that had been walked back. So that's something I look forward to. But my council is embracing change, as you saw, with the gentle density motion that I brought back as a strong mayor to introduce the concept of fourplexes. Because the premier has told municipalities that we have to accept triplexes as of right, so we thought it's not a bridge too far to embrace fourplexes. In the initial, the initial vote was a hung jury. They were tied. So I brought it back. And after a fulsome debate with me at the table, they did the right thing. And we voted eight to four — eight to four — that didn't even make it a strong mayor motion. It was a normal motion, that my council embraced the concept of gentle density, and it awarded us $113 million from the federal government to help us build another 3000 units in Mississauga. So I'm very proud of the changes. Let's not forget that Mississauga is only 50 years old. And under Hazel's stewardship, we were still farmland and fruit trees and four-bedroom homes with wide boulevards, a sleepy suburb. And today, we are a dynamic, diverse, welcoming city that is embracing change and embracing heights and density. And those changes are well underway. And I'm very proud of them.
Aidan Chamandy
So this will be the last question. So the Peel dissolution and the walk-back seemed timed in a way that's kind of difficult not to draw a connection to your candidacy or potential candidacy for Liberal leadership. Basically, I'm wondering if there was a conversation or a deal between you and the Conservatives, where you stay in Mississauga and out of provincial politics, if they do dissolve the region?
Bonnie Crombie
Well, there have been no conversations. None at all. The only conversation I had was the intent to go forward with the Peel dissolution. And I will say to you that I was never given a heads up, that there would be a MZO on the Lakeview lands, which my council opposed and we were getting ready to go into community consultations on the Monday when it had been announced on the Friday at 5 p.m., without even given the mayor being given the courtesy of the heads-up. So again, another reversal by the Ford government that's desperate, is driving backwards and is failing Ontarians.
Jessica Smith Cross
That rumour is running wild that you agree to stay out of politics, and then they'd break up the city and then you walked back on it. And now they're walking back on it.
Bonnie Crombie
That conversation never happened.
Jessica Smith Cross
Good to know.
Bonnie Crombie
Never happened.
Jessica Smith Cross
I know we said that would be the last question but, very short answer: do you have a New Year's resolution? A political one that you'd like to share?
Bonnie Crombie
Oh, my New Year's resolution is trying to take better care of myself. I tend to push myself very hard. You know, I have a very strong work ethic and I never say no. So I'd like to be able to say no a little bit and I'd like to get the proper amount of sleep and continue to work out. I have a very good workout regimen for the past couple of years that I've abandoned right now as a candidate, but I'd like to get back to at least two, three times a week to have a proper workout. It's good for your physical health, but it's also imperative for your mental health. And it allows you a better night's sleep, too. So better self care I think would be my New Year's resolution.
Jessica Smith Cross
I endorse that one wholeheartedly. Well, Happy New Year.
Bonnie Crombie
Thank you so much.
Aidan Chamandy
Thanks, Bonnie.
Bonnie Crombie
Thanks for having me today.
