Mcguinty says farewell as Ontario Liberals vote for new leader

TORONTO — Ontario Liberals gave Premier Dalton McGuinty arousing farewell Friday night, saluting the man who led the party to three consecutive victories but who is leaving under a cloud of controversy.

As he took the stage at the former Maple Leaf Gardens, McGuinty soaked in the adulation as about 2,000 delegates gathered to choose his successor burst into applause and chanted his name.

Looking on were more than 40 members of the McGuinty clan, including his wife, Terri, and their children.

For Liberals, this was not a night to discuss the air ambulance scandal, prorogation of the legislature, gas plants or any of the problems that hastened McGuinty’s departure. As one delegate said, McGuinty deserves the tribute.

“Today is a time for celebration, and it is also a time to look back and reflect on all the mountains that we have moved under Dalton McGuinty,” said Harpreet Hansra, a Brampton delegate and supporter of leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy. “He led us to three consecutive vic- tories. There is sadness that we are losing one of our greatest leaders.”

Ontario Liberals were a dispirited bunch in 1996, having lost an election in 1995 they were supposed to win. Beaten in his first election, McGuinty bounced back to lead the party to victory in 2003, and four years later made history as the first Liberal to win back-to-back majorities in 70 years. In 2011, he made it three victories in a row — albeit only a minority this time — making him the longest-serving Liberal in more than a century.

In his speech, McGuinty recalled that night in 1996 when he won. “No- body was more terrified than me when I won,” he said.

He reminded Liberals where they had come from and what they had achieved and he urged them to remain committed to Liberal traditions that have made such a difference in Ontario.

“In North America, Ontario is first with the best educated workforce, we’re the first to offer fullday kindergarten to our children, the first to offer nurse practitioner care to our families, the first to shut down coal, which makes us first in the fight against climate change,” he said.