As candidates vie for leadership of Ontario’s Liberal party, they’re looking for what will make them the strongest competitor against Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, who has easily defeated the Liberals in the past two elections.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie is in the running and she has taken jibes from fellow candidates over campaign donations she has accepted from developers.

The biggest political challenge currently facing Mr. Ford is controversy over his government’s decision to open land in the Greenbelt for housing development. The province’s integrity commissioner has found the deal improperly favours a few developers.

“I don’t know how Bonnie Crombie can say you will bring ethics back when your style of politics has a lot of similarities to Doug Ford when it comes to the donors,” Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi, another candidate, said at a debate hosted by the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Forum on Sept. 20.