In April 2019, Trevor Holliday resigned as leader of the Northern Ontario Party, in order "to ensure we have a leader that can communicate with the supporters, members, media and most importantly Northerners, in more than just English." He was succeeded as leader by Shawn Poirier, a truck driver from Kirkland Lake who had been the party's candidate in Timiskaming—Cochrane in 2018. Poirier stepped down as leader a few months later, citing personal reasons, and Holliday reassumed the leadership on an interim basis.