Ontario voters face stark choice, but we’ll be OK
Ontarians are faced with a starkly simple choice Thursday. Do they want Tory leader Doug Ford to be their premier? Or do they want New Democrat Andrea Horwath? Those are the only options on offer. The province can survive either. By conceding that she can’t win, current Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has put herself out […]
Wynne’s concession a ‘selfless act’ to ensure Liberals hold seats, says Herle
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s move to concede defeat ahead of election day was a “stunningly selfless act,” and not a power play, said the premier’s campaign co-chair in a televised interview on Monday. In an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics on Monday, David Herle said Ms. Wynne’s decision to admit that she would not […]
Ontario Liberal Party headed for a monumental, historic defeat
TORONTO—Seventy-two hours. In 72 hours, the Ontario general election grinds to a close. Folks who live in other parts of Canada—or those who come from other parts of Canada, as is often the case on Parliament Hill—can be forgiven for being fed up with Ontario election coverage and commentary. So, I ask forgiveness in advance for […]
With Wynne headed for big loss, federal NDP and Conservatives set to target Ontario ridings for 2019, say political players
With Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne headed for big loss in this week’s provincial election, veteran federal political players say Thursday’s results will provide a roadmap for the federal NDP and Conservatives for possible winnable ridings in the 2019 election and they say the federal Liberals won’t have the provincial machine that helped them win […]
Ontario election has everything to do with identity politics
Since Wilfrid Laurier and his promise of “Sunny Ways,” referencing Canada’s multi-ethnic fabric, the “big red tent” for cultural diversity has been a cornerstone of the Liberal Party’s position as Canada’s “natural governing party. In Ontario, the same strategy has been a central foundation of the ongoing “left consensus” seen since the collapse of the Tory […]
Young Liberals may taste defeat for the first time
Reason suggests Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland does not seriously think Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals are headed for a “triumph” on June 7. Justin Trudeau’s go-to minister on the Canada/U.S. file predicted a big Liberal election victory at a GTA rally on Thursday. But if Freeland really does believe that, she may have had her hands too full […]
What the evisceration of the Ontario Liberal Party will mean to Trudeau
TORONTO—What will Justin Trudeau do? When Kathleen Wynne loses, that is. Because she is going to lose the Ontario election. Badly. The reasons are myriad. She leads a wildly unpopular government. She’s been the most unpopular premier in Canada for eons. She should’ve resigned more than a year ago, to give someone else a chance to rebuild. […]
Wynne bearing brunt of change theme that plagues all incumbent politicians
OTTAWA—Politics is the only profession where the more experience you get, the more people want to get rid of you. People have great respect for journalists who practise their craft for decades, and business people who achieve gravitas with age. Bay Street is sprinkled with eminences grises who are called on to offer the benefit […]
Vulnerable Ford must produce economic plan
TORONTO—When Ontario’s election campaign began earlier this month, it was enough for Tory leader Doug Ford to be the anti-Wynne. A good many Ontarians were sick of Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and ready to support whichever party leader was best-positioned to deny her another term in government. In those early days, that leader was Ford. […]
Canada needs a reconstructed Conservative Party
CHELSEA, QUE.—This country needs a reconstructed Conservative Party—one that embodies the prudent policy and personal rectitude of a Peter Loughheed, Bill Davis, Joe Clark, or Robert Stanfield, not the extremism, vitriol, and defiant ignorance on offer from today’s right. Red Tories, blue Conservatives, and centre-right intellectuals still exist in demoralized and diminishing rumps within present-day […]
