One way or another, NDP MPP Catherine Fife wants to take on a bigger role for the New Democrats.

Talking to QP Briefing on Friday, Fife said she's weighing two ways to do that, including possibly running to be the party's leader.

"I do want to play a significant part in the revitalization of the party.... I do want to acknowledge that we have very talented people in our caucus, so I'm both contemplating running and supporting a potential candidate," Fife said.

Fife is waiting until the party irons some things out — like who its interim leader will be, and how, more clearly, its leadership election will work — before deciding which route she'll take.

Not long after Andrea Horwath announced she would be stepping down as NDP leader, Fife told the Waterloo Record that she wanted to think over a leadership run with her family before making any decision.

"I'm in a different place than I was like a week ago when I was first asked," she said on Friday. "I have to say, I do feel energized by those who have reached out to encourage me to run."

The NDP caucus, which is mostly comprised of members elected in 2018 or earlier, met on Friday to discuss MPPs' house roles, including who will become interim leader. They're trying to agree on who to recommend to lead the party in the short-term by Monday, sources told QP Briefing on Thursday.

According to the party's constitution, the interim leader will then be voted on by the party's provincial council.

READ MORE: NDP MPPs to soon suggest one of four favourites be interim leader, say sources

Fife was one of six MPPs that QP Briefing reported at the beginning of the week were either considering or rumoured to be in the running to replace Horwath, who led the party for 13 years but fell short of her goal of unseating Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives last week.

Also on the list were Joel Harden and Marit Stiles, who both publicly stated their interest the day after Horwath's resignation.

Kristyn Wong-Tam, a newly elected MPP, said it would be too early in her provincial politics career to join the race.

Neither Laura Mae Lindo nor Bhutila Karpoche, the remaining MPPs rumoured to be mulling over a run for leadership, have commented publicly.

There was a buzz among some party supporters that NDP MP Matthew Green would make a strong leadership candidate, but he told QP Briefing on Thursday that he didn't want to jump to provincial politics less than three years after becoming an MP. Federally, Green represents Hamilton Centre — the same riding as Horwath.

READ MORE: Six New Democrats named as potential leadership contenders

Out of the candidates who've said they're considering leadership runs, Fife has been an MPP for the longest.

Before politics, Fife worked in education.

First elected in 2012 in a byelection to replace a PC MPP, Fife won an upset, turning Kitchener—Waterloo orange for the first time. She was re-elected there in 2014 and has since won two landslide victories (in 2018 and 2022) in her new riding of Waterloo, which was created after a redistribution took place.

She served in a handful of critic roles in the previous parliament and before the election was finance critic and the NDP's caucus chair.

Whoever is elected leader of the Ontario NDP will assume the mantle with the largest caucus that a new leader of the party has ever inherited.

MPP Catherine Fife ‘contemplating’ running for NDP leader

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