Nate Erskine-Smith

Uncommons Podcast

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Erskine-Smith launched the Uncommons Podcast as a substitute for local town hall meetings.^[18] The episodes feature prominent guests, including members of all major parties, and often seek to showcase his thinking on a given issue.^[19]

In June 2022, Erskine-Smith hosted former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who commented on the 2022 Conservative leadership race, expressing his concern that "the populism of anger or frustration or dislocation" can undermine institutions and national unity.^[20] In June 2024, fellow Conservative MP Arnold Viersen sent a letter to Erskine-Smith stating that he felt "ambushed" by Erskine-Smith after it was revealed that on the podcast that he would ban same-sex marriage, abortion and that some members in the Conservative caucus felt the same way.^[21] Viersen later walked back on his podcast comments and Erskine-Smith, who felt that those views were anathema to most Canadians, told reporters that he was surprised about the letter by stating that Viersen was well known for his anti-abortion advocacy.^[22]

In October 2024, Erskine-Smith hosted both Prime Minister Trudeau, who expressed regret over his handling of electoral reform,^[23] and Mark Carney, who teased his future political plans and agreed with Erskine-Smith's comments on increasing housing supply for first-time home buyers to have a home, on separate episodes of the podcast.^[23][24][25]

2023 Ontario Liberal leadership campaign

Erskine-Smith ran for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in the 2023 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election.^[19][26] He positioned himself as a generational change candidate and distanced himself from previous leaders of the party like criticizing senior Liberals who wanted Ontario Greens leader Mike Schreiner to lead their party instead.^[27][28] Erskine-Smith focused his campaign on renewing the grassroots renewal, rebuilding the party organization, and a political focus on "fairness".^[29] He stated that he saw idealism, optimism and a rebuilt party operations in federal Liberals of 2015 and felt that approach should be applied to its provincial counterparts.^[7] Erskine-Smith also ran on what he described "progressive and pragmatic ideas" around on issues such as health care, senior care, climate change and wealth inequality.^[30][29]

Erskine-Smith was critical of fellow leadership candidate Bonnie Crombie's desire to move the party to the centre-right because he felt that centre-right governments lacked ambition.^[31] A month before the vote, he joined fellow Liberal MP and leadership candidate Yasir Naqvi in a mutual support pact to rank each other as the second choice in an attempt to defeat Crombie, the perceived front runner.^[32] Both of them felt that they shared the same priorities during the campaign, that this was the best way to win the upcoming election was building a party around Liberal values and felt that Crombie's leadership would have similar criticisms as Premier Doug Ford's Conservatives.^[32]

Crombie, however, was elected on the third ballot with 53.4 per cent, ahead of Erskine-Smith who came in second with 46.6 percent.^[33]

Ontario provincial politics

Erskine-Smith was critical of Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie following the provincial party's poor performance in the 2025 Ontario general election and called for change in the party, urging his supporters to register for the Ontario Liberal Party's annual general meeting in September 2025 in order to challenge her in that meeting's leadership review, and calling on Crombie to step down if she received the support of less than two-thirds of delegates in the review vote.^[44][45] Crombie received only 57% support and subsequently resigned the leadership. Erskine-Smith was described as having undermined Crombie's leadership with his email blasts to his supporters criticizing Crombie, and was seen as the presumptive frontrunner to succeed her, but said he was undecided on whether or not to run a second time for the leadership.^[46][47]

On January 9, 2026, Erskine-Smith teased on his substack that he was exploring seeking the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in the upcoming leadership election.^[48][49] Erskine-Smith cited the opportunity to build a party that prioritizes equal opportunity, uses fiscal sustainability to deliver social progress, and supports diverse perspectives with reasonable disagreement.^[50]

On February 3, 2026, he revealed his intention to seek the provincial Liberal nomination in the upcoming provincial by-election in Scarborough Southwest.^[51][52] Erskine-Smith said that his decision was based on the fact that the riding shared the same concerns as Beaches—East York over issues such as housing, public transit, education, health care and economic opportunity.^[50][53] On May 9, Erskine-Smith was defeated by Domino's Pizza franchisee and party organizer Ahsanul Hafiz, by 19 votes, for the Liberal nomination. Erskine-Smith, one of four candidates seeking the nomination, had been criticised by other candidates, one of whom formed a verbal agreement to collaborate with Hafiz, for not residing in the riding and allegedly trying to use their community as a stepping stone for his leadership ambitions.^[54][55][56]. Erskine-Smith is appealing the outcome alleging that numerous people voted without identification and that there were 34 more ballots counted than were cast - more than the 19 vote margin of victory - among other alleged irregularities. Erskine-Smith called for a new nomination meeting, or for the party to appoint a candidate, while ruling himself out as a candidate.^[57] He also indicated that as a result of the nomination loss, his formal entry into the leadership campaign was "certainly much less likely than it was heading into the weekend and not only because of the outcome, but also because of how the outcome was realized”.^[58]

Political independence

During the SNC-Lavalin affair, Erskine-Smith alongside fellow Liberal MPs Wayne Long and Joyce Murray publicly advocated that Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott should remain as part of the Liberal caucus.^[67] He wrote an op-ed in the Toronto Star where he contrasted Sheila Copps and advocated that dissident Liberals should stay in caucus.^[64] He pointed out that, despite being a Liberal MP who supported his government, his party should abide by their 2015 campaign promise of empowering MPs and their communities by having more free votes in the House of Commons.^[64] Erskine-Smith believed that this could strengthen the Liberal Party and Canadian democracy.^[64]

Grassroot politics

In an interview with David Moscrop, Erskine-Smith was asked about how to provide a deeper commitment to grassroots involvement than previous Liberal parties and he cited relationship building and being an advocate for serving the community.^[26] During the 2023 Ontario leadership race, Erskine-Smith took out op-eds in the Toronto Star, National Post and Canada's National Observer, where he stated how he would renew the Ontario Liberals.^[30][68][69] In his National Post op-ed, Erskine-Smith stated that he would lead the party by allowing a diversity of perspectives, united by shared values and collaborating on community challenges.^[69] In his Toronto Star op-ed, Erskine-Smith stated that he would rebuild the party by shifting away from centralized approach by a committing to fair and open nominations, freer votes and collaborating with other parties.^[30] In his National Observer op-ed, Erskine-Smith stated that he planned to increase youth engagement into politics by being less partisan and encouraged them to be involved in decision making.^[68]

Electoral reform

Erskine-Smith was a member of Fair Vote, an electoral reform group, where he met with his predecessor to advocate for changes to the electoral system.^[70] Erskine-Smith campaigned on the idea during his nomination race in 2014 before it was added to the Liberal platform.^[70] In a 2016 CBC interview, he opposed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's idea of a preferential ballot and countered with single-transferable voting as an option.^[71] After his party walked back on changing the electoral system, Erskine-Smith took out an op-ed in the Huffington Post apologizing to those who believed that the electoral system would change. He stated that his party should have held a referendum as a compromise, and that he would not stop advocating for electoral reform.^[70][72] In May 2017, Erskine-Smith, alongside fellow Liberal MP Sean Casey, voted against their own party when accepting a Commons committee report that outlined how electoral reform could be implemented.^[73]

During the 2023 Ontario Liberal leadership campaign, Erskine-Smith said that if he were going to address electoral reform, he would advocate for a citizens’ assembly in the vein of New Zealand.^[66]

Animal welfare

In 2015, Erskine-Smith seconded Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, that became law in June 2019. The bill prohibits the captivity of cetaceans and requires permits to import and export them to and from Canada. Erskine-Smith spoke to the house about the importance of the bill in June 2018.^[75][76]

On February 26, 2016, Erskine-Smith introduced Bill C-246, the Modernizing Animal Protections Act,^[77] to ban the import of shark fins and make Canada's animal cruelty laws tougher.^[65] Due to concerns from animal use lobbyists, the bill was defeated 198 to 84 at second reading.^[77] The defeat of Erskine-Smith's Bill C-246 led to the creation of the Liberal Animal Welfare Caucus in 2017.^[78] On September 5, 2017, Erskine-Smith wrote an article in NOW Magazine addressing his veganism and the importance of a social change towards the treatment of animals.^[79] Two years later, a government bill addressing similar concerns was tabled by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.^[80] She acknowledged Erskine-Smith's efforts as a precursor to the government's legislation.^[80]

Climate action

In October 2018, Erskine-Smith called an emergency debate on climate change in Parliament in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's special report on global warming. He requested action to be taken by the government and Canadians to ensure that Canada can reduce its emissions and reach the targeted goals.^[81] On June 5, 2019, Erskine-Smith introduced bill C-454, the Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Act, to require the Government of Canada to reduce GHG emissions to net zero by 2050.^[82][83]

In 2023, Erskine-Smith told Moscrop that he viewed a having good climate plan was important in creating jobs and saw nuclear energy as a part of Ontario energy sources in order to tackle climate change.^[26] He also emphasized that efficiency as well as economics should be considered factors when electrifying the electric grid.^[26]

Anti-corruption

During the SNC-Lavalin affair, Erskine-Smith along side Long broke against their party and supported an opposition motion advocating their government to launch a public inquiry into the allegations.^[86] Erskine-Smith later told reporters that he wanted more information on Jody Wilson-Raybould allegation about the “inappropriate” pressure she faced by pointing to contradictions that needed to be addressed between her testimony to the Commons justice committee and other subsequent witnesses.^[87] He differed from his Liberal colleagues, who wanted Wilson-Raybould or Jane Philpott to use their legal privilege when testifying; instead he advocated expanded waiver powers for them to testify against SNC-Lavalin.^[87]

After a 2025 Toronto Star investigation revealed that illicit drugs were being advertised on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, Erskine-Smith intended to pass a motion for Meta to explain their lack of action in addressing this issues by attending the standing committee on industry and technology.^[88] He also found this as a double standard as Meta was able block news content for Canadian users.^[88]

Civil liberties

In June 2018, Erskine-Smith introduced bill C-413, an Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, to give new powers for the federal privacy commissioner.^[89] In August 2019, Erskine-Smith wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Star expressing his desire for the right to be forgotten. He explained that in an increasingly connected, online world citizens should have the right to hide content published about them from search engines if the individual’s privacy is being seriously violated.^[90]

In response to the occupation of downtown Ottawa by the Freedom Convoy, the government enacted the Emergencies Act. With Ottawa streets being largely cleared of protesters by the time of the vote, Erskine-Smith's Speech to Parliament condemned the protests, but questioned the necessity of the declaration of emergency, and its approval after the clearance. He ultimately voted to confirm the use of the declaration.^[91][92][93]

Drug policy reform

In February 2016, Erskine-Smith represented Canada at a joint United Nations/Inter-Parliamentary Union conference reviewing how different countries were dealing with illegal drugs. He partnered with Mexican Senator Laura Rojas to argue that countries should seek alternatives to incarceration in cases where individuals have drugs solely for personal use.^[94] In March 2019, Erskine-Smith wrote an op-ed for NOW Magazine where he discussed his support a bill introduced by New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Murray Rankin, stating that only expungements would address the injustice of cannabis criminalization.^[95] Erskine-Smith seconded the bill in the House of Commons.^[96]

In early January 2017, Erskine-Smith published an op-ed in Vice calling for the decriminalization of all drug possession as a logical next step to the government's drug policy.^[97] In late January 2017, Erskine-Smith delivered a speech in the House of Commons in support of Bill C-37, to expand access to safe injection clinics across Canada.^[98] Erskine-Smith introduced bill C-460, seeking to remove criminal sanctions for low-level possession and to reduce the stigma associated with seeking treatment.^[99]

In 2018, Erskine-Smith appeared on CBC's Power & Politics to speak about his disappointment in the Liberal government endorsing a ‘War on Drugs’ document from the United States during CUSMA negotiations.^[100] Erskine-Smith introduced a Liberal caucus policy resolution to address the opioid crisis through a public health approach, and it was adopted as the second overall priority by the grassroots Liberal membership at the Liberal Policy Convention in Halifax in April 2018.^[101] He explained to the Guardian that framing drug use as criminal issues has brought the conversation about drugs away from a health issue, helped fueled the black market and divert resources from law enforcement.^[102] In 2020, Erskine-Smith introduced bill C-235 which would delete the drug possession offence from the Criminal Code.^[103] He also introduced bill C-236, which would provide diversion options to law enforcement, crown attorneys, and judges for drug possession cases.^[103]