Ont. Liberal MPP Eric Hoskins quits cabinet, runs for leadership

Toronto - An extra two Ontario cabinet ministers have stepped down from their posts in order to run for the Liberal leadership. Members of Provincial Parliament Eric Hoskins and Charles Sousa are expected to announce their intentions within the next three days.

Sousa was the Citizenship and Immigration Minister, while Hoskins served as Children and Youth Services Minister. Both announced their resignation from the cabinet Friday. Hoskins will hold a news conference next week and Sousa will tell Ontario Liberals his leadership bid Saturday. “I look forward to the renewal that our party will undergo. I want to be a part of that renewal,” said the St. Paul’s MPP, who was elected to the legislature in 2009, in a statement. “Together, I am confident that we can move our party forward with strong, compassionate leadership rooted in principled politics.” Hoskins and Sousa join former cabinet ministers Glenn Murray, Kathleen Wynne and Sandra Pupatello. In the campaign for the Liberal Party nomination, the city of Toronto will so far be represented by three MPPs, while Pupatello will stand for Windsor and Sousa represents Mississauga. Deb Matthews, the Ontario Health Minister, who has been marred with the ORNGE scandal, has confirmed that she will not seek to replace Dalton McGuinty, who stepped down last month after serving for nine years as premier. The St. Paul’s provincial representative is a family doctor that has been recognized for his humanitarian work and founded the international charity War Child Canada with his wife, Dr. Samantha Nutt. Hoskins also is the recipient of the United Nations Association in Canada's Lester B. Pearson Peace Medal, Governor General's Meritorious Service Cross, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Citation for Citizenship and Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award. For more information on the Liberal leadership convention held at the end of January in Toronto, click here.