The Ontario Liberal Party (French: Parti libéral de l'Ontario) is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The government brought in auto insurance reforms (including a price cap), fixed election dates, rolled-back a series of corporate and personal tax cuts which had been scheduled for 2004, passed legislation which enshrined publicly funded Medicare into provincial law, hired more meat and water inspectors, opened up the provincially owned electricity companies to Freedom of Information laws and enacted a ban on partisan government advertising. [citation needed] In 1964, the party changed their name from the "Ontario Liberal Association" to the "Liberal Party of Ontario". 8. WATCH: After a historic defeat to the Ontario Liberal Party, Kathleen Wynne announced she's resigning as the head of the party – Jun 7, 2018 comments Leave … The Liberals continued to decline after losing power, and, for a time, were eclipsed by the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) when the Liberals were unable to attract the growing farmers' protest movement to its ranks. The "Progressive Conservatives" under George Drew established a dynasty which was to rule Ontario for the next 42 years. The Liberal popular vote fell to 19%, almost half their previous result; the party lost 51 seats and were reduced to a rump of only seven seats in a swing that elected a PC majority and made the NDP the official opposition. It's a far cry … In particular, McGuinty noted that immigrants in Ontario receive $800 in support from the federal government, while those in Quebec receive $3800. The campaign was also poorly run: a mid-campaign proposal to cut the provincial sales tax was a particularly bad blunder. Presidents of the party included Yasir Naqvi. The threshold for party status used to be 12 MPPs in Ontario, but under Mike Harris, the Tories lowered it to eight after the 1999 election, when the number of MPPs at Queen’s Park shrank from 130 to 103. He hired a more skilled group of advisors and drafted former cabinet minister Greg Sorbara as party president. Liberal Future Fund; Red Trillium Club; Margaret Campbell Fund; Fund for Liberal Youth; About Us. The centrepiece was a controversial new Health Premium of $300 to $900, staggered according to income. The 59-seat loss surpassed the 48-seat loss in 1943 that began the Tories' long rule over the province. Soon after the federal election, McGuinty hosted a federal-provincial summit on public health-care funding which resulted in a new agreement for a national health accord. The Liberals remained more popular than the Tories among Catholic and Francophone voters, due to its support for extending separate school funding to include Grades 11-13. Ontario is in the fight of its life. The Liberals declined to a right wing, rural rump. Political parties need to hold eight seats to be recognized by the Ontario legislature. We need to be ready for the next election and your donation today will make all the difference. The Ontario Liberal Party first broke the Tories' hold on the province in 1985 under the leadership of David Peterson. In the 1990 election, the Liberals only finished five points behind the NDP in the popular vote. During this period, the Ontario Liberal Party was a rural, conservative rump with a southwestern Ontario base, and were often further to the right of the moderate Red Tory Conservative administrations. The Liberals went into the 1990 election with apparently strong support in the public opinion polls. The party had also underestimated the impact of the Patti Starr fundraising scandal, as well as allegations surrounding the Liberal government's links with land developers. Blake's Liberals defeated the Tories in 1871, but Blake left Queen's Park for Ottawa the next year, leaving the provincial Liberals in the hands of Oliver Mowat. Posted by. Harris swept to power on a right-wing "Common Sense Revolution" platform. In response to court decisions, the Liberals updated the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. It could be a new dawn for the Liberal Party on June 8. [6] On October 15, 2012, McGuinty announced that he would resign as leader and Premier. Steven Del Duca is a leader who will be relentless in the pursuit of progress, who will work night and day and never stop fighting for a better Ontario. And eight is the magic number. If recent polls hold true, the Liberals look poised to go from governing party to losing their official party status. Also controversial were the elimination of coverage for health services not covered by the Canada Health Act, including eye examinations and physical therapy. In fact, only 19% of voters wanted a Liberal government again, according to Elections Ontario. It was revealed that a number of key figures associated with Mike Harris's "Common Sense Revolution" had received lucrative, untendered multimillion-dollar consulting contracts from these institutions. 144 likes. The Liberals defended the premium by pointing to the previous government's hidden deficit of $5.6 billion,[4] and McGuinty claimed he needed to break his campaign pledge on taxation to fulfill his promises on other fronts. McGuinty also launched a PR campaign to narrow the politically charged $23 billion gap between what Ontario contributes to the federal government and what is returned to Ontario in services. Marilyn Raphael…, TORONTO – Steven Del Duca, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, issued the following statement: “For months, everyone involved in…, Hon. r/ontario: A subreddit to discuss all the news and events taking place in the province of Ontario, Canada. Sinclair, as there was not enough money or a sufficient level of organization, and too many divisions within the party to hold a leadership convention. save hide report. The Liberal Party was expected to replace the unpopular NDP, but it ran a poor campaign under leader Lyn McLeod, and was beaten by the Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris. Wynne herself barely held onto her own seat by 181 votes. Accepting responsibility for the worst showing in the party's 161-year history and the worst defeat of a sitting government in Ontario, Wynne resigned as Liberal leader on election night. Peterson was able to form a minority government from 1985 to 1987 due to an accord signed with the Ontario NDP. Privacy Policy. 16 comments. The Tories' attempt to repeat the 1999 attacks on McGuinty were unsuccessful. After 1867, Edward Blake became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. The NDP promised a return to the activist form of government that had prevailed from 1985 to 1987, and its co-operation with the Liberals during that time made it appear more moderate and acceptable to swing voters in the Toronto area. Conservative Premier G. Howard Ferguson used as justification an announcement by UFO general secretary James J. Morrison that the UFO would be withdrawing from party politics, though Oliver argues that this was facetious logic. Opposing view: Do the Ontario Liberals deserve official party status?Yes. They failed to get a popular candidate, Charles Templeton, elected in a by-election. Michael Coteau is surrounded by supporters during the Ontario Liberal Party's leadership convention on Mar 7, 2020. share. A "wet", Hepburn was able to end the divisions in the party around the issue of temperance which had reduced it to a narrow sect. [7][8] At the end of January 2013, the party elected MPP Kathleen Wynne as leader, making her the 25th Premier of Ontario.[9]. [12], In the 2018 municipal election later in the year, six of the defeated Liberal MPPs — Bill Mauro, Kathryn McGarry, Jim Bradley, Mike Colle, Granville Anderson and Dipika Damerla — were elected to municipal office as mayors, city councillors or regional councillors.[13]. The party sat in opposition to the Conservative government led by John Sandfield Macdonald. UFO parliamentary leader Manning Doherty protested the decision, but to no avail. Hydro One Brampton and Hydro One Networks' distribution arm would be spun off into a separate company and sold outright for up to $3 billion.[10][11]. Ontario Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca has called on Premier Doug Ford to shut down businesses across the province's hardest hit regions. Photo by Cole Burston “I’m here because this moment calls for us to do something extraordinary,” said Graham, who surprised many by securing more than double the delegate support of current MPP Mitzie Hunter. This accord allowed the provincial Premiers and territorial leaders to draw more money from Ottawa for health services, and requires the federal government to take provincial concerns such as hospital waiting-lists into account. "Ford has lost control. 8. With the economy in crisis, Ontarians looked for a new government, and Hepburn's populism was able to excite the province. It also had the advantage of not being in power at the onset of the Great Depression. Liberal Party Status. During early 2005, McGuinty called the Legislature back for a rare winter session to debate and pass several high-profile bills. If recent polls are correct, the Liberals look poised to drop from the governing party in Ontario to losing their official party status. Thompson would last only two years as leader before resigning due to stress induced health problems.[3]. Another negative factor was Peterson's association with Mulroney and the failed Meech Lake Accord attempt at constitutional reform, about which the public felt strongly. The size of Prince Edward Island, the Greenbelt protects a broad swath of land from development and preserves forests and farmland. Other elements included a four-year plan to tackle the deficit left behind by the Progressive Conservatives, free immunization for children, investments in education and investments to lower waiting times for cancer care, cardiac care, joint replacement, MRI and CT scans. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and have separate, though overlapping, memberships. The government pivoted to the left in the lead up to the 2018 election by raising the minimum wage, introducing reforms to employment standards and labour law, bringing in a limited form of pharmacare and promising universal child care. For forty-two years, from 1943 to 1985, the province was governed by the Tories. The party had grown tired and arrogant in government and became increasingly cautious. Be a part of a brighter future for Ontario. Peterson's government ruled in a time of economic plenty where occasional instances of fiscal imprudence were not much remarked on. Debates over the party's policy on liquor divided the membership, forced the resignation of at least one leader, Hartley Dewart, and drove away many reform-minded Liberals who supported the federal party under William Lyon Mackenzie King but found the provincial party too narrow and conservative to support. Close. 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