The next leader of the Ontario Liberals will be elected by delegates chosen by up to 37,831 members.

That’s how many people paid $20 to join the party that governed the province for almost 15 years before being toppled by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in 2018.

While the membership cut-off to join the Liberals was Dec. 2, the party waited until Monday to reveal how many people had signed up.

“I am so pleased to welcome so many new members into our party at this crucial moment in our history,” party president Brian Johns said in a statement.

“It is a wonderful endorsement of our brand and our values to have so many new members join our ranks,” said Johns.

There are six candidates vying for the Liberal leadership: MPPs Michael Coteau and Mitzie Hunter; former minister Steven Del Duca; ex-candidates Kate Graham and Alvin Tedjo; and Ottawa lawyer Brenda Hollingsworth.

“Ontarians want strong, responsible leadership and they know that each of the candidates running to lead our party and our province are capable of providing that leadership,” said Johns.

Party members will elect the delegates to the March 7 leadership convention at meetings around the province on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9.

Sixteen delegates will chosen in each of Ontario’s 124 ridings. In addition to those 1,984 delegates, 13 university campus clubs will each choose eight delegates and there are 10 Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission delegates.

As well, some 400 ex-officio members are eligible to be delegates. This includes current and former Liberal MPPs, the 79 federal Grit MPs from Ontario, and riding association presidents.

While around 2,500 delegates could cast ballots, it’s expected fewer than 1,800 will show up at the March 7 convention in Mississauga.

Del Duca, the former Vaughan-Woodbridge MPP whose campaign sold 14,173 memberships, is the front-runner in the contest.

Coteau (Don Valley East), also a former minister in premier Kathleen Wynne’s government, sold 8,500 memberships.

Hunter (Scarborough Guildwood), another former cabinet minister, sold 2,000 memberships.

Tedjo, who finished third in Oakville-Burlington North in the 2018 election, sold about 1,000 new memberships.

Hollingsworth did not turn in any new memberships.

Graham, a third-place candidate in London North Centre in the 2018 election, has not disclosed her sales tally.

The six Liberal hopefuls will next debate Sunday in Sudbury. They will then take to the stage in Ottawa on Jan. 20, at the Cornell community centre in Markham on Feb. 1, at TVO on Feb. 19, and the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto on Feb. 24.

Whoever wins in March has their work cut out for them.

The Liberals currently hold five seats in the 124-member legislature, well below the threshold of 12 MPPs for official party standing, though they are expected to win byelections Ford will soon call in vacant Grit seats in Ottawa-Vanier and Orleans.

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They still have a hefty debt to clear from the 2018 campaign and will need to find scores of new candidates to run in the 2022 election.

But the most recent public opinion polls suggest the leaderless Grits are at least in a statistical tie with Ford’s Tories and ahead of Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats.

Correction – Jan. 6. 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Alvin Tedjo as the runner-up in Oakville-Burlington North in the 2018 election.

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