Just days after unwinding his successful campaign, Liberal MPP-elect Ted Hsu is thinking about a lot of things — including running to be his party's next leader.

The newly elected member of provincial parliament for Kingston and the Islands told QP Briefing in an interview on Tuesday that "a lot" of people have prodded him to run in the Ontario Liberal leadership race and that he's "thinking about (it) seriously."

"That is all still up in the air," he added.

Besides making a decision about his leadership prospects, Hsu's got plenty on his plate. But of the 36 newly elected MPPs, he's one of the best prepared. Hsu was Kingston and the Islands' MP from 2011 to 2015.

On June 2, Hsu won his provincial seat by a margin of six points over NDP candidate Mary Rita Holland. His election was a rare bright spot for the Ontario Liberals in the 2022 election, which saw the party improve upon its worst ever outcome in 2018 by only a single seat.

Hsu will be a member of the third party in parliament, as he was in Ottawa, and will face similar challenges. It will be difficult for the Liberals to balance keeping in touch with Ontarians with doing its best to hold the government to account, he said.

"Don't underestimate the underdog," Hsu added. "It's like David and Goliath, so we plan on being like David."

Hsu was born in Oklahoma but moved to Kingston with his parents soon after his father got a job at Queen's University.

He went to high school and university in Kingston and has since lived in Princeton, N.J., where he received his PhD in physics, and in Philadelphia, Paris and Tokyo, where he worked in finance. In Kingston, he's also been involved with SWITCH, a local not-for-profit that promotes sustainable energy, and SYNG Pharmaceuticals, a Kingston-founded company that's developing a new means of testing and treating endometriosis.

Before his 2011 federal election victory, Hsu was involved with Liberal party politics for around a half-decade.

Hsu was drawn to the federal Liberals in 2006 as a backer of Stéphane Dion's leadership bid. Between then and 2011, he helped the successful campaigns of local Liberals John Gerretsen and Peter Milliken and was the federal riding association's treasurer.

Hsu succeeded the retiring Milliken as Kingston and the Islands' MP in 2011, keeping the typically Grit-supporting riding red in what was the Liberals' worst general election outcome since Confederation. As he explains in a video on his website, as a third-party MP with limited power in the House of Commons, Hsu led an effort to restore the long-form census. One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government's first actions in 2015 was following through on this.

Hsu's reason for not seeking re-election in 2015 was the timing. He wanted to spend more time with his two young daughters. Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, son of John, whom Hsu had campaigned for, won the riding in 2015 and has held it ever since.

"Part of me wishes I had run again," Hsu said on Tuesday. "But the other part of me knows it was the right decision for me to not run at that time. It was just not the right thing for my family."

Hsu's remained politically engaged ever since. He managed single-term Liberal MPP Sophie Kiwala's unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2018, was part of an effort to change Kingston's municipal elections to using ranked ballots — which Premier Doug Ford's government has since blocked — and managed the younger Gerretsen's first re-election campaign in 2019.

He won the nomination for Kingston and the Islands in November 2020 against Kiwala. He's been campaigning since then, whether it be by phoning constituents or doorknocking when appropriate during the pandemic, and by campaigning again on Gerretsen's behalf ahead of the 2021 federal election.

Hsu said the Ford government didn't do anything specific to compel him to seek elected office once again. It was the conditions he and his family observed and lived through during the pandemic that gave him the itch, he said.

For example, he witnessed the challenges his daughters faced with schooling during COVID-19 and those — including isolation — his aunt faced in assisted living, he said.

"A lot of parts of society showed cracks and problems that were revealed by the pandemic — everything from long-term care, to school, to hospitals, to inflation, to mental health — and then climate change being put on the back burner," Hsu said.

"All of these things, I think, have suffered damage from the pandemic. And so we felt — I felt — it was a good time for me to say I want to be a person who tries to work on these problems and tries to fix them and make a contribution."

With the Liberals in leadership limbo at the moment, it's unclear who in caucus will take on which critic roles, so Hsu's not sure yet which issues he'll be directing his energy and time toward.

As an MP, Hsu was a critic for science and technology, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario and for post-secondary education. He was also quite active on the House of Commons' finance, natural resources, industry and technology, and health committees.

Hsu's also been tapped for housing policy advice before as part of a housing task force appointed by Kingston's mayor. Its final report was published just before the pandemic, offering dozens of suggestions to city council about how it could help improve housing availability and affordability in Kingston.

Hsu said encouraging more housing co-ops and fighting exclusionary zoning practices are two ways he'd like to see the government work to combat Ontario's housing woes.

He also said he plans to pick up on an effort of Kingston and the Islands' last MPP, the NDP's Ian Arthur (who didn't seek re-election), which was to try to compel the government to recognize that Kingston has a shortage of physicians.

While Hsu's considering his own prospects, the Liberals' leadership contest is still long from being mapped out.

Re-elected Liberal MPP Stephen Blais has also said he's mulling over the possibility of running for leader.

"At this point, all options are open ... (I) definitely want to play a leadership role in how we build things moving forward," Blais told QP Briefing last week.

READ MORE: Liberal MPP Blais says he wants ‘larger leadership’ role in party

Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who represents the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, has said he's thinking of mounting a run at leading the provincial party.

Ted Hsu’s back and considering an Ontario Liberal leadership run

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