I know, you’re thinking it’s way too early to be talking about who’s running for the Ontario Liberal party leadership.

That’s because there’s no date for the leadership election and nobody has confirmed they will enter the contest, which likely won’t get underway officially until after the federal election in October, with a winner to be decided early in 2020.

You might even be thinking “who cares,” given the Liberals finished so far back in last June’s election that they lost official party status and that any return to power could take another two elections and seven long years in exile.

But think again — the leadership race is heating up, especially in light of polls showing the Liberals coming back. In the last week alone, there have been numerous organizing meetings, one-on-one sessions with influential insiders and appearances ranging from student forums to small dinners.

True, unless you’re a provincial political junkie you may not have heard of any of the likely candidates. Indeed, you may have more knowledge about the Liberals who have said they won’t be running.

Five potential candidates are actively pursuing the job. Another 12 to 14 names have been kicked around as possible entrants.

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There are only seven Liberal MPPs, and four of them are expected to enter the race. Of the three others, Kathleen Wynne has already been party leader and that went well for a long time before ending badly. John Fraser is the interim leader, a job he got after saying he wouldn’t run for the full-time leadership. And there’s Michael Gravelle, the long-serving Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP who at age 70 knows his time has passed.

So who is testing the water and what have they been doing?

There’s Nathalie Des Rosiers, the Ottawa-Vanier MPP first elected in a byelection in 2017. She began talking with potential campaign team members last fall. On Monday night, she spoke at a dinner Monday at Massey College in Toronto held by a small group of influential civic leaders, academics and former top government bureaucrats. The topic was “populism.” Among those attending were Anne Golden, former CEO of the Conference Board of Canada; ex-federal cabinet minister John Godfrey; and Jennifer Keesmaat, who ran unsuccessfully in the recent Toronto mayoral race. Even ex-businessman and former U.S. convict Conrad Black was there.

Des Rosiers is a former dean of the civil law section at the University of Ottawa and a past president of the Law Commission of Canada. One political liability may be her speaking style, which is more reserved than what might be needed to fire up Liberals looking for a dynamic leader.

Or there’s Mitzie Hunter, the Scarborough-Guildwood MPP who made news this week when she called for the party to reform its selection process with a one-member, one-vote system instead of a delegated convention. She spoke at Ryerson University on Monday, in Waterloo on Tuesday and Sarnia on Wednesday.

Or Marie-France Lalonde, the Orleans MPP, who met this past weekend in Ottawa with potential campaign team members.

And then there’s Michael Coteau, the Don Valley East MPP who is actively meeting with various riding association executives, right down to a small pre-Christmas house party in the Toronto-Danforth riding.

Outside the caucus there’s Steven Del Duca, the former transportation minister from Vaughan who “likely will run,” according to an organizer close to him. Del Duca spoke Tuesday in Kingston at a Queen’s University student rally against the Ford government’s changes to the Ontario Students Assistance Program.

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The only time the Ontario Liberals have chosen a leader who was not a sitting MPP was in 1951 when they picked Walter Thompson, an ex-federal MP. That experience ended in diaster when the Liberals were trounced in an election later that year. Thompson didn’t even win his own riding.

In recent days Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, 57, has ruled out running, saying it’s time for party renewal instead of someone his age taking over. Ajax MP Mark Holland also decided not to run after giving it serious thought.

Anyone else interested in running? Or has “been approached” about running? Time to decide, because the race is on!

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