Just what in the heck is Bonnie Crombie going to do now?
Not only did she come up short in her bid to become premier of Ontario, she may not even be a member of the provincial legislature since she was losing her election bid in Mississauga East-Cooksville to Silvia Gualtieri at press time – which would amount to a stunning defeat and rebuke of the veteran politician.
Politics can be brutal. And this was brutal for Crombie.
It leaves her jobless. It leaves her on the outside of anywhere politically.
So, what’s her next move? Retire from politics?
Few think that will happen. But what?
Perhaps run federally with the Liberals. She has, after all, sat in the House of Commons before.
Her late in the provincial election endorsement of Mark Carney to become Liberal leader and for at least a short time prime minister, certainty was well-timed for someone who might be in need of a landing spot.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
But if that’s her plan, she’s going to have to go back to the drawing board in terms of her support in Mississauga where she was elected three times as mayor.
It certainly isn’t a lock.
Okay, what about municipal elections next year?
Could she take another shot at returning and getting her old job back by taking on the person who took her spot that she vacated?
That might not be easy either. Carolyn Parrish is hitting her stride as mayor and many in Mississauga may send their own message that they can’t just be loved and left as Crombie chose to do.
Now, if things had gone better for her, then there would be no Monday morning quarterbacking. But things did not work and the play to walk away from being in power of a major city to try to run the province turned out to be a hill too high to climb.
Of course, not all of this is Crombie’s fault. A lot of it was smart politics by Doug Ford and his campaign team who saw the opportunity to go to the voters early and saw that gamble work while Crombie’s didn’t.
While she was talking in the campaign about important subjects like getting people family doctors and affordable places to live, Ford was focused on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff talk.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
Even though Crombie spoke of seeing the horror on the faces of seniors in the grocery store, no one was focused on that as much as they were the fear of what Trump could end up doing to not only Canada’s economy but our sovereignty.
It was a campaign killer for Crombie.
But few expected her to lose the riding she chose to run in Mississauga. Few except the many experienced Progressive Conservatives who worked on it. With a veteran of the political game Gualtieri being Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s mother-in-law, Crombie was up against some pretty deep competition.
The whole thing turned out to be a political skunking for Crombie and a not so perfect storm. It wasn’t all because voters rejected her. It was also a very difficult challenge – one that she was not ready to meet.
So, this is not an easy time to be Bonnie Crombie.
Her bold move to walk away from the security of being mayor of Mississauga has failed.
What’s next?