Former Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard is throwing himself back into the political ring as the local Liberal Party prepares to nominate him as a candidate.
The Newmarket-Aurora Provincial Liberal Association said Ballard would be its candidate, with confirmation to come at a Jan. 12 nomination meeting. Ballard will be joining the race under Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie in the next provincial election.
Ballard is a former MPP and cabinet minister, winning the election in 2014 against Conservative candidate and current Newmarket Councillor Jane Twinney. He lost the 2018 election to Christine Elliott, also coming third behind NDP candidate Melissa Williams.
Ballard, an Aurora resident, left provincial politics for a time after and did not run in 2022, when Liberal candidate Sylvain Roy was runner-up to current Conservative MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy.
While in office, Ballard served as minister of housing and minister responsible for the poverty-reduction Strategy, and later as minister of environment and climate change. He also got a bill passed that would have seen the chair of York Region elected at large, but it never came to fruition with the election of the Conservative government in 2018.
Ballard also served as a municipal councillor in Aurora, elected in 2010 but vacating before the term ended.
Beyond politics, Ballard was a former reporter, with jobs working for the Newmarket Era, Aurora Banner, Canadian Press and Toronto Star.
Since exiting politics, he has served as the CEO of Passive House Canada and as president of the Consumers Council of Canada.
The nomination meeting is from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Newmarket Community Centre Lions Hall #2, 200 Doug Duncan Dr., followed by a new year’s levee (all welcome) from 2 to 4 p.m. at Riverwalk commons on Sunday, Jan. 12.
