Bains says he won’t run for leadership

Former federal minister to remain in role at CIBC

No Bains, no gains.

That’s the concern from some Ontario Liberals after former federal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains announced Thursday he will be not be a candidate in the party’s nascent leadership contest.

“I am grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of support and encouragement to seek the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party,” Bains wrote on social media.

“As I continue to focus on my family, work and community, I look forward to helping rebuild the party as a member, not as a leadership candidate.”

It’s a setback for a party that had welcomed the “Draft Nav” campaign in the belief the Bramptonraised Mississauga resident could challenge Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford in 2026.

“It’s really too bad — he would have been amazing, but the timing is just not right,” said one disappointed supporter, speaking confidentially to discuss internal deliberations

Bains, 45, was a key architect of the federal Liberals’ rebuilding before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took power in 2015.

He is regarded as an excellent organizer and a top-notch fundraiser who knows the Greater Toronto Area well.

A former innovation minister, he left federal politics in 2021 and is now CIBC’s vice-chair of global investment banking.

Well-regarded in federal and provincial Liberal circles, Bains is also considered formidable by Ford’s Progressive Conservatives — he worked closely with the premier and Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli to attract manufacturing jobs to Ontario.