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Scott Stinson: Meet the outsider Ontario Liberal candidate who says the party has lost its way

'We’re losing the foundation of liberal values ... and I think that there's an appetite for change'

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Near the end of an hour-long conversation at a downtown Toronto coffee shop, Eric Lombardi lets slip something that would raise the hackles of many of the people he needs to woo to become the next leader of the Ontario Liberals.

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“There are many Conservatives for whom I am their favourite Liberal,” he says.

Scott Stinson: Meet the outsider Ontario Liberal candidate who says the party has lost its way Back to video

Lombardi, a 32-year-old engineer and housing advocate, has never been elected to public office. He’s never run for office before. But he’s running to lead the once-mighty Ontario Liberal Party as a classic outsider candidate, willing to criticize those that have gone before him instead of making his entire campaign about the evils of Doug Ford.

Over the course of our discussion, he mentions topics like merit-based hiring and restoring public order in downtowns that would at least raise some eyebrows in Liberal circles. But he says he thinks the party is ready for such honest talk.

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