'There were a lot of good candidates, but the best candidate won'
What Ontarians see in Kathleen Wynne is what they'll get, say local Liberals.
Wynne, 59, will become Ontario’s 25th premier - the first woman, and married gay woman, to hold the position – after winning Saturday's provincial Liberal leadership convention in Toronto.
Aileen Carroll, Barrie MPP from 2007 until 2011, says the Grits made the right choice.
“There were a lot of good candidates, but the best candidate won,” she said. “I just think she's a breath of fresh air.
“She (Wynne) is so forthright, so comfortable being the kind of politicians she is. I just thing it's a great day for Ontario.”
Stephen Chester-Bertelsen, president of Barrie Liberal Provincial Association, has a similar opinion of Wynne.
“She's an outstanding individual and I know that she has the capacity to lead certainly the Liberal Party and Ontario forward,” he said.
Wynne secured a third-ballot victory with 1,150 votes to Sandra Pupatello’s 866 at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly Maple Leaf Gardens, and now takes over from outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty.
The Don Valley West MPP has all the right tools to be a good premier, Carroll said.
“She's a straight shooter. You're not ever going to see here avoid and avoid and avoid a question, because she'll take them head-on. That's her style, that's why so many of us chose her as our candidate and why so many of us worked as hard as we did,” said Carroll, one of the Barrie delegates who attended the convention.
Wynne will have immediate challenges as Ontario premier. She inherits a deadlocked minority government, a prorogued legislature and an $11.9-billion provincial deficit.
Carroll says the first things Wynne needs to do is reach out to the opposition – Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak and New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath.
Wynne had already had a conversation with Hudak, as of Sunday morning,
“The second thing is she has every intention to calm the waters with labour unions and particularly the teachers,” Carroll said.
Carroll, who didn't stand for re-election in 2011, says she doesn't expect a spring election in Ontario with Wynne leading the Liberals.
“She has every intention. . .to make this government work as long as she can,” Carroll said.
Carroll says she believes Horwath wants the same thing.
“With Tim (Hudak), whether or not there is a desire on his part to do so, there may be, but I think there's an onus on him to do so,” she said. “I think he would look very poorly among his own ranks. . .if he pulled the plug right away.
“She's going to have a honeymoon. They'd better let her have it.”
In her Sunday morning media conference, Wynne said she doesn't think Ontarians want an election and that she intends to work with Hudak and Horwath.
“I believe there are ways of finding common ground,” she said.
Chester-Bertelsen says he also thinks Wynne will reach out to the opposition parties.
He said Tuesday's Liberal caucus meeting and preparing her transition team to open the Ontario legislature on Feb. 19 are also priorities.
“My hope is, when the legislature returns, is the good work of the parliament will be done,” he said.
“The government is only a year and a half old, and the mandate was given, close to a majority. But regardless of that, there's common ground between the parties, and Ontarians want Ontario to move forward.”
Michael Johns, a political science professor at Laurentian University's Georgian College campus in Barrie, said Wynne's victory is significant.
“Any time you have something such as the first female premier, it's an important moment,” Johns said. “The question becomes whether or not she can maintain that through the next election.”
He pointed to Kim Campbell, Canada's first female prime minister – but for less than six months in 1993. Her Conservative government, and Campbell herself, were ousted in the 1993 federal election.
Johns said Wynne's largest problem, if there's a quick election, is that Ontario voters don't know her well enough. Hudak and Horwath are more established, people have seen them on TV, etc.
“They (voters) have very little perception, probably, of Kathleen Wynne, or the brand that she represents,” Johns said. “If you don't know her, how can you know her brand, and I would say that her brand has been damaged in the last year or so.
“So if she doesn't get an opportunity to introduce herself to voters, then she has to purely rely on people's opinion of the government of the day.”
Johns says Wynne has the right idea, to first see where Horwath and Hudak stand.
“Is there an opportunity for any level of co-operation with either of them on issues that would keep them (the Liberals) in office for longer than the first budget, test the waters there,” he said.
If there is, Johns says Wynne should look for an alliance of sorts with one of the two parties, to give her the time to introduce herself to voters and re-brand the party.
“If it's clear that that's not the case, then she needs to come up with a new policy paper or direction to go very, very quickly, because she's going to have to go into an election based purely on not her personality, not people's awareness of her, but what she's able to then bring with sort of a new vision for her party.”
Johns said the Tories and NDP have been gearing up for a spring election, but will test the waters first.
He noted Hudak has been releasing white or policy papers on a number of issues, although they're as much trial balloons as platform items.
Johns thinks the NDP will be looking closely at poll numbers.
“If they see the opportunity here, if people aren't going to give the Liberals an opportunity again, if people are looking at the Conservative white papers and are not finding them appealing, then they might see this as an opportunity, that now is the time to really strike,” he said.
“If the poll numbers tell them otherwise, then it might be a reason to try and co-operate, at least for a little bit, but we'll sort of know in the next little while.”
Johns says he would guess the PCs are much more ready, much more eager, for an election than the NDP.
But he says the New Democrats have had time to fine-tune their messages and should be ready for an election too.
Wynne's victory on Saturday was not a surprise, but the Liberals dominos fell the right way for her.
She and Pupatello were virtually deadlocked after the first ballot; Pupatello, however, was just two votes ahead - surprising many who thought she had a bigger lead with the party establishment.
But Wynne gathered support as the night wore on.
First it came from Eric Hoskins, who finished last on the first ballot. He directed his 150 supporters in Wynne's direction.
Then came support from fourth-place finisher Harinder Takhar.
But on the second ballot, Pupatello increased her lead to 817 votes to 750 against Wynne.
Right after that vote, however, third-placer Gerard Kennedy, then fourth-placer Charles Sousa moved their supporters to Wynne.
That was too much for Pupatello, as Wynne won the third ballot by 284 votes.
According to her website (kathleenwynne.onmpp.ca), Wynne was first elected as Don Valley West MPP in October 2003, and was re-elected to a third term in October 2011.
She was appointed to Cabinet in 2006, serving served as the education minister until 2010, then becoming transportation minister from 2010 until October 2011.
Wynne then became minister of municipal affairs and housing and as minister of aboriginal affairs on Oct. 20, 2011.
Before joining the Liberals, Wynne served as a Toronto public school trustee.
She holds a Masters Degree in linguistics from the University of Toronto and a Masters Degree in adult education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She also completed mediation training at Harvard University.
Wynne has three children, Chris, Jessie and Maggie, and two granddaughters, Olivia and Claire. She and her partner Jane have lived in North Toronto for more than 25 years.
