Ottawa Citizen

Does Naqvi get to join cabinet?

The Ottawa Centre MPP has earned his stripes

- JOANNE CHIANELLO

When the Liberal leadership convention wrapped up on Saturday night, premierdes­ignate Kathleen Wynne wasn’t the only politician to rightly expect a higher public profile going forward.

Naturally, all eyes were fixed on who’d be the new leader of the provincial party (and thus the next premier), but someone closer to home also emerged from the weekend somewhat triumphant: Yasir Naqvi.

There are plenty of reasons to expect Naqvi to be accompanyi­ng the new premier when she and her cabinet are sworn in, a ceremony expected to take place on Feb. 12. And the convention was one of them.

The Ottawa Centre MPP — who celebrated his 40th birthday on Friday with more than 2,000 of his closest partisan friends — spent a couple of days last October contemplat­ing whether to take a shot at the leadership himself. He had to declare quickly because, if indeed he was intending to run, Naqvi would have had to recuse himself from his duties as Liberal party president.

Naqvi opted for staying party prez and running the convention instead of a leadership bid. Turned out to be a smart move.

For one thing, Naqvi’s official role in the party necessitat­ed that he remain neutral. Even though the Liberal leadership contest was seen to be fairly friendly, there are the inevitable hard feelings to overcome afterward. Not for the neutral Naqvi.

So this week, while some Liberal MPPs might be tiptoeing on eggshells, Naqvi’s been receiving a lot of backslappi­ng from his caucus members for a job well done.

And for good reason. The Liberal convention proceeded quite smoothly, as far as these things so. When the actual action on the floor is the focal point of the news and not screwed-up process or technical glitches, that’s considered a success. (If you think that’s an overstatem­ent, just ask the federal NDP, whose last leadership convention was plagued by hours’ long delay of the online voting system — a subject that dominated much of the media coverage.)

Naqvi was first elected in 2007, so the fact he hasn’t made the cabinet yet isn’t a huge surprise, especially as he’s been the junior member from Ottawa.

But numbers might be on Naqvi’s side this time around.

Premier Dalton McGuinty will be stepping aside as government leader shortly (he’ll be sitting as a backbenche­r for awhile). In political math, a premier apparently has the cabinet power equivalent of two ministers. So he’ll need to be replaced.

Both MPPs Bob Chiarelli and Madeleine Meilleur are expected to be renamed to cabinet, despite having supported Wynne’s rival, Sandra Pupatello. Chiarelli is a senior minister — and an important political figure in Ottawa — while Meilleur is a female francophon­e, who’s popular in her riding to boot. It’d be foolish for Wynne not to keep them both in her inner circle. MPP Phil McNeely was elected in 2003, but has said he won’t run again and thus he’s not expected to be made a minister.

The provincial cabinet currently has 22 members. Considerin­g that Ottawa is the second-largest city in the province, it’s not unreasonab­le that three members hail from the capital.

Also playing in Naqvi’s favour — in addition to excellent event planning skills and fortuitous geographic­al representa­tion — there’s the fact that Naqvi’s viewed as a hard worker in his riding. Among the latest wins for Ottawa Centre is a commitment from the province to fund the Hintonburg Hub health centre (finally) and securing $15 million for a so-called “innovation centre” at the Bayview Yards. Funding the location as an economic incubation centre means that site is off the table as a spot for any future casino, a proposal that is likely to be controvers­ial. Politicall­y, it’s a smart move.

And his constituen­ts seem to recognize Naqvi as a valuable MPP. Even though the NDP is quite strong in Ottawa Centre federally, Naqvi beat his likable NDP rival Anil Naidoo in 2011 by almost 9,000 votes.

Whether he can keep the successes coming for Ottawa now once the premier is no longer a hometown boy — let alone should the Liberals fall out of power in the next election — is another question. But for however long it lasts, a Wynne Liberal cabinet should include Yasir Naqvi.

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 ?? JAMES PARK/OTTAWA CITIZEN ?? Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi wisely chose to remain Ontario Liberal Party president and to not pursue a leadership bid. His successful organizati­on of the party’s weekend leadership convention, and his neutrality, bode well for a possible cabinet post.
JAMES PARK/OTTAWA CITIZEN Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi wisely chose to remain Ontario Liberal Party president and to not pursue a leadership bid. His successful organizati­on of the party’s weekend leadership convention, and his neutrality, bode well for a possible cabinet post.

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