Stephanie Smyth, former television and radio journalist, is now an MPP for the Ontario Liberal Party, in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
In the early days of Doug Ford’s first term as Ontario Premier, Stephanie Smyth says she used to get phone calls from him, voicing his displeasure about the news coverage on her TV channel, CP24.
As CP24’s anchor and managing editor, she said she would always take the Premier’s calls to hear what he had to say.
“Everybody thought, ‘Oh, Doug loves Steph.’ And, ‘Oh, Steph’s going to do what Doug wants.’ And Steph didn’t do what Doug wants,” she said.
“All you say is, ‘I will take a look.’ And he’d be satisfied.”
After Ms. Smyth left journalism, she hadn’t spoken to Mr. Ford in several years – until she found herself in the legislature this spring.
Ms. Smyth was one of five new Liberal MPPs elected in the February provincial election, returning the once-ruling Liberals to official party status for the first time since 2018. But the party still faces an uphill battle, with leader Bonnie Crombie failing to win a seat and the party remaining in third place in the legislature.
As the representative for the midtown riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, Ms. Smyth now sits across the aisle from the Premier, facing the man she has watched transform into a national public figure.
“I still look every day across and go, ‘Wow,’” Ms. Smyth said recently during an interview at a Mediterranean restaurant in her riding.
“What could be next? You know that no matter what, he’s a master politician.”
Ms. Smyth, who hails from Toronto and studied journalism in London, Ont., made the leap into politics after more than three decades in broadcasting, first in radio and then TV.
Now 61, she said she lost her spark for news after the COVID-19 pandemic had receded, but she still felt curious about the world. After working in communications, she helped with Toronto councillor Brad Bradford’s unsuccessful 2023 mayoral bid, as well as with Ms. Crombie’s winning of the Ontario Liberal leadership.
A former veteran broadcaster, Ms. Smyth covered the Ford family for years.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Ms. Smyth describes herself as a centrist and said she has been approached by others to run for politics, although never by Mr. Ford.
“I’ve heard, ‘I always thought you were a Conservative. I thought you were a Liberal.’ I was one of the, nobody really knew,” she said.
In her heart, she says, she follows “Liberal values.”
She decided, after helping with Ms. Crombie’s leadership, to run in St. Paul’s in the February election, wresting the traditionally Liberal seat back from the NDP’s Jill Andrew, who had held it since 2018.
Ms. Smyth credits her win to a combination of hard work and timing. While she heard criticism of former prime minister Justin Trudeau at the doors, the Israel-Hamas war also played a role. The riding has a large Jewish population, and Ms. Smyth said many residents expressed concerns about the NDP’s position on the conflict and the keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
“I think that was a real issue for the Jewish community,” she said.
Ms. Andrew was removed from the legislature last year after holding up the keffiyeh to her chest, in defiance of a ban on political attire issued by Ontario’s then Speaker in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks. (She also held up a tallit, a Jewish prayer cloth.)
In an interview, Ms. Andrew said she was against the ban, as she viewed it as an attack on Charter and human rights, adding that there were many Jewish people in the riding who supported her and that she has always stood up against antisemitism.
For her part, Ms. Smyth said she is looking at introducing a private member’s bill focused on provincial rules for bubble zones, the controversial measure adopted by several municipalities that bars protesters close to schools and religious institutions.
Despite not having spoken to the Premier in several years, Ms. Smyth said the two greeted each other warmly in the legislature this spring.
“He was very nice,” she said.
The former veteran broadcaster covered the Ford family for years. She first met the Premier’s brother, the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford, in the early 2000s, when he appeared on radio to rail against the now infamous “gravy train” at city hall.
Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, left, and then-city councillor Doug Ford at City Hall in Toronto in November, 2013.Aaron Harris/Reuters
She recalls Doug Ford, then a city councillor, during an appearance on CP24 in which he criticized her colleague’s coverage as Rob Ford faced a crack-cocaine scandal that dominated international headlines in 2013.
As Doug Ford walked off the set, Ms. Smyth said she swore at him for denigrating a fellow reporter. “He took it like a champ,” she recalls. (Mr. Ford’s office declined to comment for this story.)
But she says Doug Ford was always friendly to her at city hall and was easier to talk to than Rob Ford. “Rob and Doug were very different,” she says.
When she first came to Queen’s Park in April, Ms. Smyth says she was intimidated by the legislature and the responsibility of being an elected official.
But despite the jitters, she says politics is not unlike her former profession.
“Even campaigning, you’re doing like 1,000 interviews a day. So, transferable skills,” she said.
Still, with only 14 MPPs, the Liberal caucus faces its share of challenges.
“It’s tough being in opposition, I’m not going to lie, but you can fight for what you believe in, and you can fight for people who voted for you,” Ms. Smyth said.
As an early supporter of Ms. Crombie’s leadership, Ms. Smyth thinks switching leaders at this point would be a mistake.
“I think it would be the worst thing if we had to bring in another person to kind of suddenly try to figure this all out,” she said.