Rogers Exec Navdeep Bains Mulling Ontario Liberal Leadership Bid
Sources say former Innovation Minister's decision will depend on the results of an upcoming Scarborough-Southwest candidacy contest
Current Rogers executive and former Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains is considering a bid to become leader of the Ontario Liberal party, according to sources close to the situation.
His decision will likely depend on who the provincial Liberals choose to represent them in an upcoming by-election in the Scarborough Southwest riding, a decision that will happen on May 9.
The front-runner in that contest is Nate Erskine-Smith, the current federal Liberal Member of Parliament for Beaches–East York, who declared his desire to lead the provincial party in February. Erskine-Smith finished second to Bonnie Crombie in the leadership race in 2023.
Tyler Banham, a member of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign team in Ontario, has been pegged as Bains’ campaign manager, according to one source.
“Nothing is ever 100 per cent, but it’s reasonably certain [that Bains will enter the race],” according to a source. “All eyes are on Scarborough Southwest because if Nate wins, [Bains’] entrance is less likely.”
However, Bains – who is currently chief corporate affairs officer at telecom giant Rogers – has “a lot of people behind him who don’t like Nate, they might push him regardless,” the source adds.
Neither Bains nor Banham immediately returned requests for comment.
Coming from an accounting background, Bains was first elected in 2004 as the Liberal MP for Mississauga–Brampton South. In 2015, he was named Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development by Trudeau, a post he held until 2021, when he left politics with the stated intent of spending more time with family.
After nearly two years as an executive at CIBC, Bains joined Rogers in 2023, a move that proved controversial.
As Innovation Minister, Bains in 2020 released a statement in which he shared big telcos’ fears that a CRTC ruling a year earlier would discourage them from further investing in networks. The ruling would have significantly lowered the wholesale rates that independent providers paid to the big telcos to use parts of their networks to deliver services.
While Bains did not formally intervene in the CRTC’s ongoing review of the rates, his statement was enough to convince the regulator to largely reverse its own ruling and keep wholesale fees high – a decision that led to many of Canada’s independent providers throwing in the towel and selling themselves to the big telcos, including Rogers.
His appointment to the company in 2023 amid the mega-merger with fellow cable giant Shaw, which was approved by his ISED successor François-Philippe Champagne, was criticized as “incredibly concerning.”
“This hiring raises questions, especially after the government green-lit the Rogers-Shaw merger, benefiting Rogers at the expense of Canadian consumers,” said NDP industry critic Brian Masse in a statement at the time. “Canadians have questions — they want to ensure Rogers now has no easy access to cabinet with this hiring.”
Another source close to the situation confirmed Bains’ potential bid, and that his ties to corporate company could prove to be an asset in terms of fundraising and Bay Street support.
“The Liberals need to break through in the Peel region, which hasn’t happened in the last three elections,” the source said. “The Conservatives didn’t have to spend there because they thought they had it on lock, and they were right.”
Rogers has also had close ties with the government of Toronto, most notably through former mayor John Tory. The Toronto Star in 2021 revealed that Tory was receiving an annual retainer of $100,000 for sitting on the Rogers Control Trust while he was mayor, while one of the family members herself – Martha Rogers – disputed his statements that he only worked with the company in his spare time.
Tory resigned as mayor in 2023 following the disclosure of an affair with a staffer. Rumours had circulated recently that he was considering running for the position again, though he said last month that he does not plan to.
I'd say this is a fairly obvious attempt at regulatory capture, but when was the CRTC not a Rogers/BCE bootlick?