(Mississauga) Charles Sousa, a former finance minister for Ontario, will be the federal Liberal candidate in an upcoming by-election in the Toronto area expected to be called later this month.
Posted at 8:30 p.m.
A party statement says Charles Sousa, who represented a provincial riding in Mississauga, Ont., for more than a decade and served as finance minister in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government, will run federally in the riding of Mississauga-Lakeshore.
The by-election, to be called by Nov. 26, will be the first since Pierre Poilievre became leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and official opposition earlier this fall.
Mr. Sousa replaces the liberal Sven Spengemann, who announced last May that he would resign to take up a post at the United Nations.
A Liberal has represented Mississauga-Lakeshore since the 1990s, except between 2011 and 2015 when a Conservative held the seat.
Mr. Sousa is the latest major candidate to be nominated after the Conservatives announced that their new candidate in Mississauga-Lakeshore would be Ron Chhinzer, a member of the Peel Regional Police Department. The NDP nominated Julia Kole, whose profile on the party’s website says the Mississauga resident worked as a constituency assistant.
Another longtime Mississauga resident, Mary Kidnew, is set to run for the Green Party.
“I am proud to call Mississauga home, and I care deeply about our community and the families I represented for 11 years as an MLA,” Sousa said in a statement. Now I’m asking to be their next MP to continue working together for new jobs and a strong economy, and to make sure everyone has the opportunity to succeed, learn and help each other. »