'It's the right decision': Schreiner to stay on as Ontario Greens leader

Mike Schreiner will stay green Guelph’s MPP will not join the Liberals. As CTV’s Stephanie Villella reports, he wants to remain focused on climate action.

Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner has ended speculation he could run for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership.

On Tuesday, Schreiner said after consulting with constituents, he has decided to stay on as Ontario Green Party leader.

"There were a lot of people who encouraged me to consider running for Liberal leader, and I think the primary motivation from what I heard from those folks was that they would like to see a united progressive movement to push back against the Doug Ford government, and to advanced issues like protecting our Green Belt, defending public health care, advancing climate action, actually building affordable homes and affordable connected communities,” Schreiner said. “I believe I can best do that as the leader of the Ontario Green Party.”

Late last month, a group of 40 Liberal party members, including several former MPPs, signed an open letter urging Schreiner to run for the party’s leadership.

At the time, Schreiner said while he had never had ambitions of leading a party other than the Greens, he would take time to think about their arguments.

"I am very proud of the decision I made to remain as leader of the Green Party of Ontario,” Schreiner said. “It’s the right decision for me personally, it's the right decision for the Ontario Green Party, and it’s the right decision for my constituents in Guelph and people across this province.”

“People value the work I’m doing here. I’m going to continue doing this work with a great green team and were going to continue to push hard to protect the Green Belt, our farmland and wetlands and to push this government to actually wake up and start addressing the climate crisis,” he said.