
Hamilton MPP Sarah Jama to run as Independent after Ontario NDP blocks her from seeking nomination
Hamilton MPP Sarah Jama will run in the upcoming provincial election as an Independent candidate after the Ontario New Democrats rejected her attempt to rejoin the party.
The Ontario NDP has decided she is not eligible to seek the local party nomination, Jama said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
Premier Doug Ford confirmed last week he plans to trigger a 28-day election campaign on Wednesday.
A housing and disability activist, Jama won Hamilton Centre for the NDP in a byelection in March 2023 with 54 per cent of the votes. The riding is considered a stronghold for the New Democratic Party and was long held by former party leader Andrea Horwath. Horwath won the seat in 2022 but stepped down to run for Hamilton mayor shortly after.
In October 2023, Jama was ousted from the party after she made a statement in support of Palestinians following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that prompted Israel's retaliation in Gaza. Jama called for an immediate ceasefire and an "end to all occupation of Palestinian land."
She's been representing her riding independently since, but recently told CBC Hamilton she'd submitted a vetting package to the NDP to run as a candidate.
"Since I was kicked out of caucus, I have kept the door to rejoining the party open," Jama said in her statement on Monday.
"By denying my application to run for the nomination, the ONDP has stripped the people of Hamilton Centre of their fundamental right to a fair and democratic process and their right to choose a candidate they feel will best advocate for the needs of this riding."
NDP says process is confidential
According to Jama, the party rejected her application because she had stated her intention to run as an Independent candidate if she wasn't accepted back into the party and because she was removed from the caucus.
Ontario NDP director Kevin Beaulieu said in a statement to CBC News the vetting process is confidential and didn't comment on the reasons her application was rejected.
"Our party has a vetting and appeal process … that applies to any Ontarian who seeks to run for us," said Beaulieu. "In the case of Ms. Jama, as with all applicants, the process was followed, and she was notified of the decision."
The nomination process is not shaping up to be "fair and democratic," said the executive committee of the NDP's Hamilton Centre Riding Association in a news release Friday.
The association's president, Tom Baker, and vice-president David Mivasair previously told CBC Hamilton they supported Jama's return to the party.
"On the eve of an election, one of the strongest NDP ridings in the province appears to be denied the opportunity to freely choose its candidate," their statement said.
Last October, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles told CBC Metro Morning host David Common that as far as she knew, Jama wouldn't be the party's candidate for Hamilton Centre in the next provincial election.
When Jama was kicked out of the party in 2023, Stiles said the MPP had "undertaken a number of unilateral actions that have undermined our collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues."
Stiles also said at the time that Jama's comments had "contributed to an unsafe work environment for staff."
Liberals, Greens announce Hamilton Centre candidates
The decision caused controversy for Stiles. The Kitchener Centre NDP riding association was among those who criticized the move, and called then for Stiles's resignation as a result.
Meanwhile, Ford called Jama antisemitic, which prompted Jama's office to serve Ford with a cease and desist letter. The Ford government also banned Jama from speaking in the provincial legislature.
Since that time, Jama has said she has continued her constituency work independently, talking to thousands of residents about issues they want to see highlighted at Queen's Park. She's "excited" to continue this work, she said in her statement Monday.
The NDP and Progressive Conservatives have not yet publicly announced their candidates for Hamilton Centre.
Eileen Walker, a former justice of the peace and social worker, will run for the Liberal Party. Lucia Iannantuono, an environmental advocate and hardware designer, will run once again for the Ontario Greens.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Poll suggests half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
OTTAWA – A new poll suggests that nearly half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza almost two years after the current conflict began. In a survey conducted last weekend, the polling firm Leger asked Canadians and Americans a series of questions about the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Leger surveyed 1,511 Canadians and 1,011 Americans between June 6 and June 8. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples. The polling comes as the federal government is under pressure to take concrete steps to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Leger asked respondents whether they 'agree or disagree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip' based on how they 'define what constitutes a genocide.' The UN declared genocide a crime under international law in 1946. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. That can include killing members of the group, causing them serious injury, deliberately inflicting conditions that can be dangerous to their lives, imposing measures to prevent births within the group, or forcibly transferring children from the group to another group. Just less than half of the Canadian respondents, 49 per cent, said they agree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, including 23 per cent who said they strongly agree and 26 per cent who said they somewhat agree. Another 21 per cent said they disagree with the claim that Israel is committing genocide — 10 per cent said they somewhat disagree and 11 per cent said they strongly disagree. The remaining 30 per cent said they didn't know or refused to answer. Conservative supporters were the least likely to say they believe Israel is committing genocide, with 37 per cent agreeing with the statement and 33 per cent disagreeing. More than 60 per cent of Liberal, NDP, Green Party and Bloc Québécois supporters said they agree Israel's actions amount to genocide. The poll was conducted just days before the Canadian government took action against Israeli cabinet ministers it accuses of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. On Tuesday, a group of five countries including Canada announced sanctions against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The five countries accused the ministers of calling for the displacement of Palestinians and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Last month, an open letter from Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israeli military operations in Gaza and called the level of suffering in the territory 'intolerable.' The letter threatened concrete actions if the Israeli government did not allow more food aid into Gaza and end its military operations there. It also called on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. In response to the genocide question, 38 per cent of Americans polled said they agree Israel is committing genocide, while 26 per cent said they disagree and 36 per cent said they don't know. Supporters of the Democrats – 52 per cent – and Americans under the age of 35 – 53 per cent – were the most likely to call the situation in Gaza a genocide. More than half of Canadians, 54 per cent, said they don't follow news about the Middle East or the current conflict in the Gaza Strip. Just nine per cent said they're following news about the Gaza conflict very closely, and another 35 per cent said they're following somewhat closely. American respondents reported almost the same levels of engagement. Despite that, 49 per cent of Canadians and 54 per cent of American respondents said they feel they have a very good or fairly good understanding of the conflict in Gaza. Opinions on mainstream media reporting about the conflict were evenly split, with 20 per cent of Canadian respondents saying they feel the media has been 'generally balanced.' Another 20 per cent said they feel the coverage has been more favourable toward Palestinians and 21 per cent said it was more favourable to Israel. American respondents reported almost identical responses. Many Canadians surveyed were pessimistic about the possibility of a peaceful resolution. When asked whether they believe that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians can be reached, 41 per cent of Canadian respondents said no, 28 per cent said yes and 31 per cent said they don't know. Canadian respondents over age 55 were the least optimistic — 51 per cent of them said a lasting peace cannot be achieved. Americans were more evenly split, with 34 per cent saying they think peace is out of reach and 33 per cent saying it can be achieved. The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. — With files from David Baxter This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.


CTV News
7 hours ago
- CTV News
Calls for fentanyl task force
The opposition is calling on the NDP government to step up its enforcement of fentanyl trafficking and organized crime.


Calgary Herald
8 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
U.S. condemns Canada and other allies sanctioning two Israeli ministers
OTTAWA — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is condemning Canada and other allies' decision to sanction two members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet on Tuesday, calling for the move to be reversed. Article content Earlier in the day, Canada joined the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and New Zealand in announcing sanctions against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right members of Netanyahu's war cabinet, over what the countries said was inciting settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Article content Article content Article content Smotrich was one of two ministers who recently announced the approval of 22 Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Ben-Gvir has also called for Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, which is home to around two million Palestinians. Smotrich has supported the idea of Israelis settling in Gaza. Article content Article content 'Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.' Article content By Tuesday afternoon, Rubio delivered a sharp rebuke of the decision by Canada and other allies, saying it rejects 'any notion of equivalence' with Hamas and wanted to remind its partners 'not to forget who the real enemy is.' Article content 'These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war,' Rubio posted on X. Article content Article content 'The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.' Article content Article content The sanctions come amid growing pressure on Israel from allies over how it is conducting its war against Hamas, which was triggered when Hamas militants stormed from Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage. Article content The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates more than 50,000 people have been killed since Israel launched its response. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney, along with the leaders of the U.K. and France, said in a statement last month that they opposed Israel's latest expansion of the war and called on the country to allow more deliveries of food and other aid into Gaza.