{"id":42497,"date":"2026-05-12T20:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/42497\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:56:13","slug":"nate-erskine-smith-appeals-results-of-ontario-liberal-nomination-in-scarborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/42497\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Erskine-Smith appeals results of Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nate Erskine-Smith, a long-time Liberal MP, addresses the media in Toronto after losing his nomination bid on Saturday. Mr. Erskine-Smith was planning to make the leap into Ontario politics.Arlyn McAdorey\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Nate Erskine-Smith is challenging the results of last weekend\u2019s Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough Southwest after losing the contest by 19 votes, according to a copy of the appeal viewed by The Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n

Mr. Erskine-Smith, currently a federal Liberal MP, filed a notice of appeal to the party\u2019s arbitration board on Tuesday morning, the copy showed. It says the results of the May 9 contest<\/a> should be set aside based on \u201cserious irregularities,\u201d including allegations of inconsistencies about proof of identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no longer about any individual candidacy. It is about the integrity of our democratic process. A full investigation is essential,\u201d the appeal says.<\/p>\n

The appeal also alleges that there were 34 extra ballots counted in the race when compared with the number of voters.<\/p>\n

It also calls on the party to redo the nomination or appoint a candidate, but says that Mr. Erskine-Smith would not run again.<\/p>\n

Nate Erskine-Smith loses Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough, denting leadership hopes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTo avoid any perception of self-interest, Mr. Erskine-Smith will remove himself from any future process or consideration in Scarborough Southwest if it means the party will investigate and take action,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Mr. Erskine-Smith\u2019s team did not immediately comment on the appeal. The Ontario Liberal Party confirmed it received the appeal and said it has been referred to the party\u2019s independent arbitration committee, chaired by former Ontario cabinet minister David Zimmer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have complete confidence in the integrity of our party\u2019s process and in the work of the arbitration committee,\u201d said interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee will review the appeal carefully, fairly, and swiftly, consistent with our rules and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Erskine-Smith had hoped to make the leap to provincial politics as the candidate in a yet-to-be-called by-election in the east Toronto riding, before an expected run for leader of the Ontario Liberals.<\/p>\n

His plan hit a snag on Saturday when he lost the nomination to Bangladeshi-born pizza store franchisee Ahsanul Hafiz, who is also the vice-chair of the federal Liberal Party in Ontario. Mr. Erskine-Smith has yet to say if he still plans to run for leader. But he also previously said he would quit federal politics as soon as Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls the by-election, expected some time this summer. <\/p>\n

Mr. Erskine-Smith has represented the east Toronto riding of Beaches-East York since 2015.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the vote, he said his team of scrutineers told him about \u201cID issues\u201d in the voting room, and that they told him they had never seen anything like it, calling it \u201cunreal.\u201d He also claimed the Liberal Party establishment was working against him.<\/p>\n

The appeal outlines the concerns raised by Mr. Erskine-Smith\u2019s campaign team on the day of the vote.<\/p>\n

It alleges that about 500 people who entered the voting room had issues providing proper identification. It says about a third of those people, numbering around 175, were deemed eligible to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong hundreds of temporary residents who voted, many could not initially state their address when asked and defaulted to documentation,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

The notice alleges that there were an unusually high number of people who claimed to have \u201cjust lost\u201d their driver\u2019s licence or who had \u201cjust moved\u201d to the area. It says the party verified identification rules inconsistently, with signed and unsigned leases allowed as proof of address in a number of cases.<\/p>\n

It also says digital report cards, Amazon orders and other non-standard forms of residency were approved in an ad hoc manner. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne voter was allowed to vote with a visitor\u2019s visa to Canada, a Bangladeshi passport for photo ID, and banking information,\u201d the notice alleges.<\/p>\n

It also claims that people were \u201cexplicitly directing others how to vote inside the voting booth,\u201d and that \u201ccountless individuals\u201d were taking pictures of their ballots.<\/p>\n

The appeal calls on the party to amend its voter eligibility rules to limit participation to citizens and permanent residents and says Elections Ontario should manage nomination processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, we need change across Ontario and in our Ontario Liberal Party. We cannot effectively take on Ford\u2019s Conservatives until we get our own house in order,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Mr. Fraser told reporters at Queen\u2019s Park on Monday that the Ontario Liberals ran a fair and free nomination, with more than 50 people from the party working at the event. He said anyone who has concerns about the race should \u201cprove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say things in the heat of the moment, right? Because no one likes losing,\u201d Mr. Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hafiz told reporters he hadn\u2019t yet heard from Mr. Erskine-Smith about the nomination, and he\u2019s focused on winning the by-election. <\/p>\n

The riding has been held by the NDP for the past three elections, but the seat was vacated in February when former Ontario NDP deputy leader Doly Begum quit to run for the federal Liberals.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Liberal Party will choose its new leader on Nov. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Nate Erskine-Smith, a long-time Liberal MP, addresses the media in Toronto after losing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-42497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-world-news","54":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}