Wynne in tight race, steps down
‘ I am passing the torch,’ saying her party was ‘ still standing’
Calling being premier of Ontario the “greatest privilege of my life,” Kathleen Wynne stepped down as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party Thursday night following f an election that ended her party’s 15- year reign and reduced it to a handful of ridings.
Speaking to a small but rowdy group of supporters inside York Mills Gallery — declaring “I am not going to cry” as she became emotional — Wynne said the process would now begin to select an interim leader.
“It is the right thing to do. There is another generation aa and I am passing the torch,” she said.
Having secured her Don Valley West riding, Wynne said she had called and congratulated the premier elect, Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, saying, “I wish him well.”
Wynne left the stage on a hopeful note, proclaiming “we’re still standing” as Elton John’s I’m Still Standing-blasted from speakers.
“Although I have lost this election tonight, I have not in any ww way lost my passion for con- tinuing this work — continuing to find ways to make it all work better,” Wynne said to cheers.
But it had indeed been “a difficult night,” as Wynne admitted.
Earlier in the evening, scores of bright red signs cheerfully instructed “Re- elect Kathleen WW Wynne” as news trucks lined up ready to capture the results of Ontario’s 42nd election.
But inside York Mills Gallery, twinkly lights reflected off empty floors, the small room sparsely populated with Liberal party staffers, volunteers and reporters — a stark contrast to the horde gathering at the Toronto Congress Centre for Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford’s campaign party.
The campaign’s culmination couldn’t be described as a celebration. A reckoning, perhaps, a farewell party after 15 years of Liberal rule. Or, “the beginning of the rebuild,” said Ontario Liberal campaign co- chair Deb Matthews.
“Clearly this is not what we’d hoped the result would be — we know we’re not going to win,” Matthews said in an interview before the results came in. “That’s sad and disappointing, but we’ve had a little bit of time to come to grips with that.”
Matthews said she had been told in advance that Wynne would make the stunning admission— already assumed by most — that she would not be handed a second term. Her personal unpopularity and that of her party, consistently polling third behind the New Democrats and the PCs, had made the fact inescapable. Wynne had fought hard throughout the campaign, including attempting to attack rival vv Ford as a politician cut from the t same cloth as United States president Donald Trump. She aa also issued an ad campaign that saw her saying “Sorry, Not Sorry” — a mock apology where WW Wynne said she regretted that more people didn’t like her, but refused to say sorry for the ww work she and her party had done while in office. But it hadn’t worked. “I don’t know who voters will cc choose but I am pretty sure that it won’t be me,” Wynne told reporters Saturday.
Instead, she urged Ontario to vv vote Liberal in the name of en- suring there was a tempering force inside Queen’s Park, reducing dd the likelihood of a ma- jority government. By voting Liberal, you can “keep the next government, Conservative or NDP, from acting too extreme,” Wynne said.
Whether it was due to issues such as high hydro rates, or the more general desire for a new government, it was apparent throughout the campaign that each Liberal riding would be a battle — even Wynne’s own. The premier had been up against energy consultant Jon Kieran for the PCs; NDP candidate and community organizer AA Amara Possian; and Green Par- ty t candidate Morgan Bailey.