Who’s who in the Ontario Liberal Leadership race
By Mika Rekai - Friday, January 25, 2013 - 0 Comments
What you need to know about the six candidates, and then some
Frank Gunn/CP
After the surprise resignation of Dalton McGuinty in October, the Ontario Liberal Party is finally ready to elect a new leader. While there are currently six candidates vying to be Ontario’s next premier, the odds are it will come down to a two-way race between Toronto’s hyper-progressive Kathleen Wynne and Windsor spitfire Sandra Pupatello. The voting process, however, may render a few surprises. Instead of allowing all party members to vote, the next premier will be selected by 2, 200 chosen delegates and “ex-officios”—former and current Liberal MPPs and MPs. The same process was used in the federal Liberal leadership contest in 2006, which saw Stéphane Dion upset front-runners Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae after Dion received overwhelming support from delegates of defeated candidate Gerard Kennedy. While the process has been criticized for being both time-consuming and elitist, watch for it to inject a little drama into the weekend’s voting.
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Ont. Immigration Minister next up for Liberal leadership run
By Emily Senger - Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 10:07 AM - 0 Comments
Ontario Immigration Minister Charles Sousa is the next likely candidate to announce his desire…
Ontario Immigration Minister Charles Sousa is the next likely candidate to announce his desire to run for leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, after Premier Dalton McGuinty’s surprise announcement that he would step down.
On Twitter Tuesday morning, The Agenda host Steve Paikin said: “Charles Sousa has put out the call to supporters to meet tmrw to collect 250 signatures for his ldrshp nomination. He’ll announce Saturday.”
Should Sousa make his announcement, he will join former cabinet minister Kathleen Wynne and MPP and former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray.
Murray made his announcement on Sunday. Though Wynne’s plans to run for leader had been well known since last week, she made it official with a campaign launch in her north Toronto riding Monday night.
Potential candidates who have yet to announce their intentions include Health Minister Deb Matthews, Youth and Child Services Minister Eric Hoskins and, potentially, former Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy and former MPP Sandra Pupatello, who retired from politics in her Windsor riding earlier this year.
