A month after winning the Ontario Liberal leadership, Bonnie Crombie has already eclipsed her target of raising $1-million for the third place party.

In an email to contributors this week, Crombie says she is thrilled to announce she has exceeded that goal, raising just over $1.2 million.

Crombie also writes there is a lot of work to do between now and the election of 2026 to grow the Liberal team.

This includes her winning a seat in the Ontario legislature.

Former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister George Smitherman told Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer, that will come at the right time.

“That doesn’t have to happen immediately, I just think at the first reasonable chance, and here we are in the early days of the newest year talking about her, that’s excellent. And she made the most of her leadership victory just there in December already putting some much needed dollars into the bank accounts of the Ontario Liberals, so lots of positive signs at the beginning of 2024 related to her leadership,” Smitherman explained. Listen to the full conversation by clicking here.

Bonnie Crombie steps down from her municipal duties as Mississauga’s mayor on January 12th.

According to the latest Abacus Data poll last month, the governing Ford Tories were at 39-percent voter support, compared with 27-percent for Crombie’s Liberals and 24-percent for Marit Stiles’ official opposition New Democrats, with Mike Schreiner’s Greens at 6-percent.