Would-be Liberal leaders face off
Rivals make their first pitches to party faithful at event Thursday
Liberal leadership hopefuls vying to take on Premier Doug Ford in the 2022 provincial election gathered for the first time in one place Thursday night, making pitches for support as the clock ticks toward to their March 7 convention.
With just over three months to go, the party with just five MPPs in the legislature held a “showcase” at the Chestnut Convention Centre where each candidate had five minutes in front of about 200 people.
The rivals have until Monday to sell $20 party memberships to activists who will elect delegates to the leadership convention in Mississauga. There will be six debates across the province before then.
Former cabinet minister Steven Del Duca said he will make election readiness the priority for his first 100 days if chosen leader, pledging to quickly appoint campaign and platform co-chairs, and a committee to search for candidates in all 124 ridings.
“We will have only 26 months to be prepared for what I believe is the fight of our lives,” added Del Duca, who lost his Vaughan-Woodbridge riding to a Progressive Conservative in the July 2018 vote that devastated the Liberals.
Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough- Guildwood) picked up on that theme, confidently saying “this is about the next premier.”
She touted her master’s in business administration degree, cabinet experience under former premier Kathleen Wynne and time as chief executive of the Civic-Action group.
“We are at a critical moment. Ontarians have lost trust in Doug Ford and in the next two years they will take a close look at us. And when they do, they must see a party with a new face, a new voice and new ideas for the future,” Hunter said.
Don Valley East MPP Michael Coteau, also a former cabinet minister under who handled the tricky autism portfolio, announced the endorsement of former McGuinty minister Joe Cordiano and took aim at education as the Ford government is mired in tense contract talks with teacher unions.
Alvin Tedjo, the Liberal runner up in Oakville-Burlington in the 2018 vote, talked about his pledge to end Catholic school funding, merging the four public and separate school systems into secular English and French boards to save about $1.6 billion a year. Kate Graham, who placed third in former cabinet minister Deb Matthews’ riding of London North Centre in the 2018 vote, said, “I’ve heard people say they think we moved too far to the left. You know what? I don’t think we moved too far to the left. I think we moved too far into the halls at Queen’s Park. So we have a big job to do. We have to earn back peoples’ trust.”
Brenda Hollingsworth, an Ottawa personal injury lawyer who committed to the $100,000 entry fee for the contest, did not speak because she didn’t enter the race until Monday, but she did appear on stage for a group photo.