Four candidates are on the starting line as the Ontario election campaign begins. Everyone will try to convince Ontarians that he is in a better position to lead the province out of the pandemic and fight the rising cost of living.
Opposition party leaders, who have struggled to come out of Doug Ford’s shadow since the 2018 election, will try to distance themselves from each other in the coming weeks. The Prime Minister, he wants to keep his achievements.
Here is a picture of the leaders who will fight today and on the June 2nd ballot.
the new Doug
Doug Ford is the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and needs no introduction. In hundreds of press briefings since March 2020, Mr. Ford includes the response to the pandemic in Ontario, for better and for worse.
He won a massive majority in 2018 thanks to a combination of events: the surprise resignation of Patrick Brown as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Mr Ford’s unlikely rise to leadership against favorite Christine Elliott and the inevitable fall of the Liberals Party, broken 15 years in power.
The Ford family was a political dynasty. Before becoming premier, Doug Ford served on the city council under his brother Rob, the controversial mayor of Toronto. Ford Sr. was a member of Mike Harris ’Conservative government and nephew Michael, also a city councilor, was a candidate for York-South-Weston in the provincial election.
In 2018, the Ford Nation was moved, not without a crash, from the municipal council to the Legislative Assembly. Doug Ford brought his hot temper, his controversial advisers, and his desire to reduce public spending.
In the opinion of many observers, the first two years of his government were chaotic and punctuated by controversy, such as budget cuts to health, education and French-language services, the removal of carbon exchange and the allegations of nepotism targeting his chief of staff.
Doug Ford was booed in public (New window). The pandemic changed everything. His government loosened purse strings and announced huge investments in health, public transport, the transport sector and construction of highways. Mr. calmed down. Ford and left more space for his ministerial experiences.
To stay in their majority, the Progressive Conservatives will need to hold on to their Toronto crown win in 905. This includes Liberal pivotal riding before the 2018 election. The Windsor area and the North.
The old road
Andrea Horwath aspires to be Ontario’s Premier for the fourth time and has led the New Democratic Party since 2009. In 2018, the NDP recorded its best score since the Bob Rae era and formed the Official Opposition.
An activist before becoming a politician, Ms Horwath spoke out against Mike Harris ’cuts in the late 1990s by organizing protests in Hamilton, her hometown. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, he served as Steel Town Councilor.
During the pandemic, the chef won several fights against Doug Ford. His nearly one -year offensive on paid sick leave, a proposal vehemently rejected by the Prime Minister, eventually bore fruit. But his flip-flop over mandatory vaccinations by teachers and health care workers overshadowed him.
The leader is struggling to expand the base of NDP. Doug Ford’s operation to seduce workers, which was applauded by union leaders, threatened to steal support from him. The creation of provincial dental and drug insurance plans, two major commitments of Ms. Horwath, may lose their luster now that federal programs are on the table.
To break an orange wave on June 2, the NDP leader must establish himself as the best alternative to Doug Ford and find a way to inspire voters after 10 years as party leader. the NDP will have to keep its gains in Toronto, where the Liberals are trying to get back into force, and enter 905 by recruiting star candidates there.
who is steve
Steven Del Duca has been the leader of the Liberal Party since 2020. His main goal is to revive the party from its ashes. He himself lost his seat at Vaughan-Woodbridge in 2018. His party has few elected officials.
The former Transport Minister introduced thorny issues when he was in power, such as delays in the delivery of Bombardier trams.
Before the pandemic, Mr. Del Duca made headlines and reaped a lot of criticism in the GTA because he wanted to get into a protected area behind his house to save his in-ground pool.
This remains unknown at the provincial level. Since there is no seat in the Legislative Assembly, the leader is less present in the media than members of his caucus. His opponents still see him as a threat. The Progressive Conservatives and the NDP launched ads before the election to link him to the legacy of the Wynne government.
Under his leadership, the Ontario Liberal Party has successfully recruited dozens of new candidates, including star candidates like Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician who became a leading figure in the fight against COVID-19, and Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman who is trying to defeat Attorney General Doug Downie.
Like Justin Trudeau, Steven Del Duca wants to play on New Democratic toes by pushing his party to the left, with promises like four days a week and the guaranteed minimum income.
The pragmatic ecologist
Born in Kansas where he grew up on a grain farm, Mike Schreiner was an entrepreneur in the sustainable agribusiness sector before winning the Green leadership in 2009. Mr. Schreiner caused anxiety. Schreiner in 2018 by becoming the first Green MP at Queen’s Park.
Known for his outspokenness and aversion to partisanship, the leader is appreciated by MPs on all sides of the House. However, he was not shy about taking positions that were different from other parties and advocated, for example, the abolition of Catholic school boards.
He is strongly opposed to highway construction and urban sprawl in environmentally sensitive areas, but his platform is not limited to environmental issues. Its approach to housing, in particular, has received praise (New window).
Mr. Schreiner is the huge favorite in Guelph. The chief also recruited a strong candidate for University-Rosedale’s Toronto riding: former Ontario environmental commissioner, Dianne Saxe.
small parties
19 other political parties are registered in Elections Ontario. Two of these small parties, from social rights, are represented in the Legislative Assembly: the Ontario Party and the New Blue Party, by MPs Rick Nicholls and Belinda Karahalios, respectively.
These two MPs were not elected under these banners, but joined them after being expelled from Doug Ford’s caucus for their opposition to health measures.
Jim Karahalios, Belinda’s husband, is the leader of the New Blue Party. Mr. Karahalios unsuccessfully tried to run for the presidency of the Progressive Conservative Party, then ran for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership career, and escalated legal battles against both parties.
Derek Sloan is the leader of the Ontario Party and also a former candidate for the leadership of CCP. He was expelled from the federal party after receiving a donation from a prominent white supremacist. The Ontario Party says it has hired Donald Trump’s controversial aide, Roger Stone, as a strategic adviser.
Source: Radio-Canada
