A few months after a failed attempt to run for the Ontario Liberal Party in a Scarborough byelection, former federal Beaches–East York MP Nate Erskine-Smith is running to represent his former constituency at Toronto city hall.
Sources close to Erskine-Smith told CityNews he is scheduled to file his nomination papers before Friday afternoon’s deadline for municipal council candidates in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario to get on the ballot for the Oct. 26 election.
The political path to Erskine-Smith’s council bid hasn’t been a conventional one.
The 42-year-old former lawyer was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015 with nearly 50 per cent of the vote, unseating former NDP MP Matthew Kellway who got just shy of 31 per cent of the vote. Erskine-Smith was reelected in 2019, 2021 and 2025 elections with large vote pluralities.
In late 2024, he was tapped by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to be housing, infrastructure and communities minister. After Prime Minister Mark Carney took over in March 2025, he kept Erskine-Smith in the role until just after that year’s election when he was dropped from cabinet all together.
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Throughout his tenure on Parliament Hill, Erskine-Smith primarily served on various committees and groups as a backbench MP. During the COVID-19, he started a podcast that lasted several years and hosted various guests.
Erskine-Smith attempted to run for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership in 2023, but came second to Bonnie Crombie on a third-round ballot. He got 46.6 per cent of the vote and Crombie got 53.4 per cent.
Earlier in 2026, Erskine-Smith explored potentially running for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership again. He attempted to secure the party’s nomination as a candidate in the upcoming Scarborough Southwest byelection and came up 19 votes short. He filed an appeal alleging irregularities, but it was rejected by a panel.
Meanwhile, Ward 19 Beaches—East York is one of two constituencies in Toronto where there is no incumbent running. The area was represented by Brad Bradford since 2018, but he opted to run for mayor in this year’s election.
The ward is roughly bounded by Coxwell Avenue, Lake Ontario, Victoria Park Avenue, and Sunrise Avenue (south of Eglinton Avenue East).
As of the time of publication, there were 10 candidates vying to be the next councillor. Among the candidates are former broadcast journalist Natalie Johnson, arts and community activist Jennie Worden and former bureaucrat James Dann.
