John Fraser (interim) Steven Del Duca The 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election concluded on March 7, 2020, resulting in the election of Steven Del Duca, a former cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne, as Ontario Liberal Party’s 33rd leader.

[1] However, the Liberals' standing with voters was badly hurt when Wynne’s government partially privatized Hydro One in 2015, after campaigning against it in the 2014 election, as well as rising criticism over "ballooning provincial debt, high electricity prices and costly, politically expedient decisions".

On the night of the election, Wynne announced her resignation as party leader, while continuing to sit in the legislature as MPP for Don Valley West.

[4] Wynne announced on election night that she had asked the party president to begin the process of choosing an interim leader.

[11] Given the weak polling numbers during the final years of the Wynne government, there was frequent chatter about the leadership aspirations of various cabinet members and MPPs.

With Sousa, Del Duca, Naqvi and Baker all losing their seats and Hoskins leaving provincial politics, the likely slate of candidates became uncertain after the 2018 election.

Des Rosiers left politics to become principal of Massey College,[12] while Naqvi became CEO of Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

Adam Vaughan and Mark Holland, two relatively high-profile MPs, both publicly acknowledged that they contemplated and subsequently ruled out bids, opting to seek re-election federally.

An organized “draft Chris Hadfield” movement was present at the party’s annual meeting, even though the former astronaut at no point expressed any inclination to enter politics.

Coteau announced his candidacy soon after the party’s annual meeting in June, while Hunter formally joined the race in early August.

Ottawa lawyer Brenda Hollingsworth, a political newcomer, joined the race on the registration deadline, rounding out the field of six.

Coteau, with the longest tenure in the legislature and cabinet, pitched himself as the primary rival to Del Duca, and was generally viewed as seeking to reform the party.

Del Duca’s frontrunner status was cemented after the February 8–9, 2020 weekend, during which party members throughout the province voted at local leadership election meetings.

Coteau re-gained second place by the end of the weekend, with stronger showing in Toronto and Eastern Ontario (which voted on Sunday).

Despite the outcome of the leadership election being a virtual certainty leading up to the convention,[14] about 3,000 people attended the two-day event, co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and interim leader John Fraser.

[116][13] Alvin Tedjo was the 2018 candidate in Oakville North—Burlington, and a former director of Government Relations for Sheridan College, former political staff to multiple Ministers of Training, Colleges and Universities[126][127][128] All members of the Ontario Liberal Party as of December 2, 2019 were eligible to cast a two-part ballot at one of the "Leadership Election Meetings" held across the province.