DALTON TAKES A BOW
In a rousing sendoff, Ontario’s Liberals saluted the outgoing premier as ‘one of our greatest leaders.’
TORONTO • Ontario Liberals gave Dalton McGuinty a rousing 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. His mother, Betty, who is in her early 80s, was also in the crowd.
It was quite a spectacle and watching it all, you’d never guess this was a party at a crossroads, one that, after nine years in power, seems to have lost its mojo and is desperately in need of renewal.
For Liberals, this was not a night to discuss Ornge, prorogation, gas plants or any of the problems that hastened McGuinty’s departure. Scandal and controversy were for another day, another time. As one delegate said, McGuinty deserves the tribute and more.
“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 victories. 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 by Mike Harris 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 backto-back majorities in 70 years. In 2011, he made it three victories in a row — albeit only a minority one this time — making him the longest-serving Liberal in more than a century, behind only Oliver Mowat, who ran the province for 24 years between 1872 and 1896.
Christina Bisanz, who comes from the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, said Friday was a “bittersweet” night for Liberals. “We appreciate his leadership over the last nine years as premier. We will always remember his accomplishments in education, health care and economic growth,” said Bisanz, sporting the colours of Kathleen Wynne, who is running a close second to front-runner Sandra Pupatello.
“But this is an opportunity to look forward to renewal, and we are hoping that we will make history with the first female premier of Ontario.” Speaker after speaker, led by the six candidates vying for McGuinty’s job, lavished praise on him as the crowd roared its approval.
In his speech, McGuinty recalled that night in 1996 when he won, and Terri whispering in his ear: “You said you were not going to win.”
“Nobody was more terrified than me when I won,” McGuinty 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 full-day 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.
“We’re first in auto production, first in stem-cell research and first in the world with the highest rate of cancer survival and the largest ever protected greenbelt. Ontario Liberals, you did that.
“We can be proud we got the big things right while seeing with clear eyes there is more to do.”
No one in politics knows McGuinty better than Ottawa-West Nepean MPP Bob Chiarelli. Chiarelli served with McGuinty’s father Dalton Sr. and was in the House when the younger McGuinty arrived. Later, when he decided to run for the leadership everyone thought he was crazy to attempt, Chiarelli served as chairman of McGuinty’s Eastern Ontario campaign.
“It’s going to be sad to see him go. On a night like this you reminisce about where he came from, where he was, how he got here and what he accomplished,” Chiarelli said.
Before pausing to honour the man they want to replace, the two top candidates traded barbs while more than 2,000 delegates voted in the first ballot for a new leader and the province’s next premier.
Pressing home what she believes to be one of her biggest advantages over Pupatello, Wynne vowed Friday to recall the legislature on Feb. 19 if she wins. “There’s no byelection in my path,” Wynne said, alluding to Pupatello, who currently has no seat at Queen’s Park.
“The answer to prorogation is to get the House back Feb. 19,” she said. “The fact that I have a seat is important.”
When she arrived at the convention Friday afternoon, Pupatello dismissed Wynne’s criticisms, saying a premier’s job does not begin only when the legislature is sitting.
She added the legislature usually resumes sitting at the end of March, “and I hope that is going to be the case.” Pupatello said she made it clear from the moment she launched her campaign that she would recall the House only after she wins a seat. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh in Pupatello’s hometown, has reportedly agreed to step down should Pupatello win to allow her to return to the Queen’s Park.
Six candidates — Pupatello, Wynne, Kennedy, Eric Hoskins, Harinder Takhar and Charles Sousa — are vying to replace McGuinty.
The results of the first ballot are expected to be announced Saturday shortly after noon, when the second round of voting will begin. The candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round is eliminated.
As close as the delegate count is, campaign managers believe voting will likely go into a fourth round. Going in, Pupatello had 504 delegates, with Wynne, at 463, a close second. Kennedy had 257 delegates.
Delegates are only committed to vote for their candidates in the first round; after that, they may switch allegiances.