Ontario’s incoming premier vows to work with opposition, avoid elections
Ontario’s incoming premier says she will recall the prorogued legislature by Feb. 19 and work with the opposition to avoid a general election.
Kathleen Wynne won the Ontario Liberal leadership race Saturday and is set to become Ontario’s first female leader and Canada’s first openly gay premier.
Ms. Wynne says Ontarians do not want a general election and don’t like the fact the house has been idle since Premier Dalton McGuinty made his resignation announcement in October.
Once she’s sworn in, Wynne will have to mend relations with the powerful teachers’ unions, who are angry at the Liberals for using a controversial law to force contracts on about 126,000 public school teachers.
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Ontario Liberal 2013 leadership convention: As it happened
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Public sector unions, who protested by the thousands outside the convention hall Saturday, have vowed to use their organizational might to defeat the Liberals in the next election.
Ms. Wynne will also have to deal with a trail of controversies McGuinty left behind _ from the political decisions to cancel two gas plants in Liberal ridings, to a criminal probe of the Ornge air ambulance service.
Ms. Wynne’s victory foils a number of trends. She is the rare party leader from Toronto, where she represents the riding of Don Valley West, and she will become the province’s first female premier and also its first openly gay premier. Supporters of Sandra Pupatello, who was beaten on the final ballot, had said the Toronto factor would work against Ms. Wynne, and the incoming Premier provided one of the day’s biggest surprises when she addressed the question of her sexual orientation in her morning speech to delegates, saying Ontarians wouldn’t be troubled by it.
Convention notebook: Candidate speeches had it all from bold to funny to boring
The renovated Maple Leaf Gardens — it’s now home to a grocery store with an arena on top — in downtown Toronto has been a gathering point for various protesters. Pro-horse people. Anti-wind people. Pro-teacher people. On Saturday morning a large OPSEU crowd thronged the entrance to the arena, and some of those assembled shouted “Shame!” at delegates as they filed past. The labour movement has long been displeased with the Liberals, but berating grassroots members seems an odd way to win them to your side.
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The proceedings began on Saturday morning with speeches from Greg Sorbara, chair of the Liberal campaign organization, Yasir Naqvi, MPP and party president, and Bob Rae, the interim federal Liberal leader. Problem was, they were speaking to an arena that was sparsely filled and it was before 9 a.m. Mr. Rae in particular tried to give a rousing speech that called Liberal troops to battle against “Harris, Harper, and Hudak,” but the response was flat. We’ll storm the barricades right after a coffee, sir.
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“It has been a remarkable night,” Ms. Wynne said after the results were announced just before 8:30 local time. She thanked her campaign team, her children and her partner, Jane Rounthwaite.
“Believe it or not, this was the easy part,” she said to a crowded arena floor at Maple Leaf Gardens. “We are going to need all of you working together.”
“We have to be ready at any moment to into a campaign,” she said, but added that Liberals must also be ready to govern.
The final tally was 56% of delegates for Ms. Wynne and 44% for Ms. Pupatello.
The delegated convention format was expected to provide opportunity for tense moments, and did not disappoint.
Moments after it hardened into a two-woman race after the second ballot, Ms. Wynne pulled off the day’s biggest coup, with Gerard Kennedy and Charles Sousa both dropping out before the third ballot. Mr. Sousa walked his delegates across the floor at Maple Leaf Gardens to join Team Wynne. Mr. Kennedy followed the same path moments later.
The third ballot remained, but unless large numbers of Sousa and Kennedy delegates had decided against following their candidates, Ms. Wynne was already poised to become Ontario's 25th Premier.
The battle was tight through two ballots, with Ms. Pupatello, the former Windsor MPP who quit politics in 2011 for a Bay Street job, taking 39.4% of delegates to Ms. Wynne's 36.2%, leading to immediate speculation that one of Charles Sousa (9.8%) or Gerard Kennedy (13.7%) — or both — would endorse someone before third-ballot counting was to take place.
Congratulations to @Kathleen_Wynne & all the candidates. Proud to pass the torch, and trust Ontario is in good hands. #onpoli #olp #olpldr—
Dalton McGuinty (@Dalton_McGuinty) January 27, 2013
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Ms. Wynne was seen as the more natural landing spot for Mr. Kennedy — she has worked for him in the past — but the Sousa supporters were said to be fairly divided in terms of which of the two leaders to support. Mr. Sousa encouraged his delegates to support Ms. Wynne while Mr. Kennedy told his to make their own choice, though he said Ms. Wynne better represented what he wanted to see in the next Premier.
Ms. Wynne beat expectations on the first ballot, securing 28.6% of the 2,084 votes, just behind Ms. Pupatello's 28.7%. Her team said she received 50 votes more than anticipated, which gave her momentum that was amplified when Dr. Hoskins, the Toronto MPP and former director of War Child Canada, said he would back her after he was eliminated on the first ballot with 7.2% of delegates.
