Erskine-Smith was vying to represent the provincial party in the upcoming Scarborough Southwest byelection ahead of an intended bid for the leadership of the party.

He lost Saturday to Ahsanul Hafiz by a slim margin then cast doubt on the process, suggesting there were voter ID issues.

"While it’s tough to lose a close one, it’s even more taxing on me to keep fighting," Erskine-Smith wrote Tuesday in a blog post on Substack.

"I thought long and hard about letting it go because that would just be easier (for any future politics, for my own personal life, for my sanity, etc.). But doing politics differently is why I left law in the first place, and honesty and integrity matter more than whatever might be easier for me personally."

The party is standing behind the integrity of the race and the vote as the appeal is now handled by its arbitration committee.

"I have complete confidence in the integrity of our party’s process and in the work of the arbitration committee,” interim leader John Fraser wrote in a statement. “The committee will review the appeal carefully, fairly and swiftly, consistent with our rules and procedures.”

Erskine-Smith's team said little Tuesday, except to confirm he had filed his notice of appeal, but in his blog post he said his appeal is about the integrity of the process, not himself.

"To make that as clear as possible, I will remove myself from any future process or consideration in Scarborough Southwest if it means the party will actually investigate and take action," he wrote.

Erskine-Smith is making several allegations about what took place at the nomination vote. He says there were 34 more ballots counted than the number of recorded voters, many people who couldn't state their address and claimed to have "just lost" their driver's licence, and people who used Amazon orders as proof of address.

Erskine-Smith represents the neighbouring riding of Beaches-East York federally, and some of his fellow nomination candidates bristled at what they saw as a candidate trying to use their community as a springboard for the leadership.

He has suggested the party "establishment" was working to prevent him from winning the nomination, a charge the party denies.

He has not yet said if losing the nomination race will deter the leadership bid he has been signalling for months, or if he will still resign his federal seat. When he entered the nomination race he said he would quit federal politics once the byelection is called, saying he is "all in" for Ontario.

The riding has been vacant since early February, when the NDP member of provincial parliament, Doly Begum, resigned to successfully run for the federal Liberals.

Premier Doug Ford has not yet called the byelection for that riding, but will have to do so by the summer.

The NDP has nominated Fatima Shaban, who has run for the federal NDP previously in that riding. The Progressive Conservatives have not yet nominated a candidate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026.

 

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