Jason Cherniak, a lawyer and president of the Richmond Hill Rotary Club, has been nominated as the Ontario Liberal candidate for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill.
Cherniak opened his own law firm, Cherniak Law, located in Upper Yonge Place in Richmond Hill, in 2008. He grew up in Richmond Hill, and also serves on the city’s library board as a director, and has also previously been the chair of the Richmond Hill Board of Trade, from 2019 to 2020.
“I bring a small business perspective to the race, and I think we need that representation at Queen's Park, for people that have started up their own businesses and understand some of the risks that are involved, the difficulties, and have made it work," he said.
Cherniak has previously run for regional councillor for Richmond Hill in 2018, and previously lost out on the federal Liberal nomination to Leona Alleslev, who was elected in 2015.
Cherniak said he was motivated to run for provincial office after seeing Premier Doug Ford’s government “wasting a lot of money." He pointed to the cost of moving the Ontario Science Centre, a proposed tunnel under the 401, and altering the Beer Store's contract.
“Those are tax dollars that we need instead in Ontario for important programs,” said Cherniak, adding a provincial Liberal government would pursue a middle-income tax cut, boost health-care funding to ensure “everybody has a family doctor in the next four years,” and cut costs for house building.
Current Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MPP Michael Parsa was first elected to office in 2018, and was re-elected in 2022.
Cherniak said while he was confident Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie’s message is resonating with voters, he was against Premier Doug Ford calling an early election, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation, and the looming threat of U.S. tariffs when president-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
“With Justin Trudeau announcing his resignation and essentially starting to lead a caretaker government at the federal level, it is absolutely the wrong time to have a provincial election, because we have a premier with a majority government, and while I think Bonnie Crombie would be a better premier, now is not the time to be arguing partisan politics,” said Cherniak.
“Now is the time to pull together as team Ontario, and Doug Ford really should be putting those rumours to rest and saying that he and his government are going to focus on dealing with Donald Trump, because that should be our top priority right now.”
In a news release, Crombie said Cherniak would “bring a wealth of community service experience with him to Queen’s Park.”
