End of a dynasty
Empty rooms, deflated spirits at Liberal campaign centres,
When he Liberals Dalton McGuinty to power led at Queen’s Park in October 2003, he launched a political dynasty tt that predates some of the fix- tures t of modern life.
Facebook was still months from being launched, Twitter ww was two and half years away, aa and Apple wouldn’t unveil the iPhone until McGuinty was gearing up for his first successful re- election bid in 2007.
Lasting almost 15 years with four election victories — three majorities and one minority — under two leaders, the Liberals’ aa reign in Ontario is lengthy for f Canadian politics these days.
The federal Liberals under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin survived from October 1993 until January 2006 — a little more than a dozen years.
Stephen Harper’s federal Conservatives governed from JJ January 2006 until losing to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in October 2015, less than a decade in power.
And the Progressive Conservatives vv that McGuinty’s Liber- aa als defeated some 5,361 days a ago managed just two election ww wins and less than eight and a half years in power.
“Dynasty’s a big word. It’s a big concept,” said Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, who succeeded McGuinty as premier in February 2013 and led the Grits to a majority victory in June 2014. But Wynne, who presided oo over the end of that dynasty, said earlier this week that she believes her party has left Ontario on the right track.
“My sincere hope is that we’re not ending anything. My sincere hope is that we’ve built a strong foundation. That has meant our economy is strong, has meant our air is cleaner, has meant our water is clean, has meant we have one of the most highly educated workforces ff in the world,” the Liberal leader said.
“All of that allows for a continuation of that building,” she said. “People don’t care, ultimately, which party is forming government. What they care a about is that their life is as good as it can be. They care that their children can get a great shot at a strong future. They care that ww when they go to work, they’re going to be able to earn enough money to be able to look after themselves and their families.”
At 14 years and eight months, her party had the longest run at Queen’s Park since the Tories governed from August 1943 until June 1985 — an almost 42year reign.
Nor is Wynne’s party the only one in Canada to suffer a dynastic end in recent years. Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives lasted from August 1971 until May 2015 — nearly 44 years — before being trounced by the NDP.
Now reconstituted as the United Conservative Party, it is favoured to win next year’s election in Alberta.