Lee Fairclough

A former radiation therapist, she led St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener and was a senior vice-president at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She has been MPP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore since February 2025. She is a candidate in the Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, with voting from 9 to 20 November 2026.

Career

Born on 2 June 1973, Fairclough studied biology and mathematics at McMaster University and holds a master's in health science from the University of Toronto. She trained as a medical radiation therapist and worked at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. From 2014 she was vice-president for quality improvement at Health Quality Ontario. She was president of St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener from 2019 to 2022, then a senior vice-president at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She lost Etobicoke—Lakeshore in 2022 by under 900 votes, then won it in February 2025. She became Liberal critic for hospitals, mental health, addictions and homelessness in September 2025 and announced her leadership bid on 8 May 2026.

Positions

Fairclough's platform emphasises access to health care, mental health services and returning decision-making powers to municipalities. Wikipedia reports she argues the next leader should be a sitting MPP able to challenge the government at once. She has sponsored or co-sponsored the Homelessness Ends with Housing Act, 2025, and a 2026 bill on gambling advertising. Her endorsers include former Premier Kathleen Wynne and MPPs Lucille Collard and Ted Hsu.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Wikipedia · Wikipedia