Opinion Martin Regg Cohn: Liberals laughed at Ontario’s new NDP leader. Who’s laughing now?
The incoming leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition is a veteran of politics. Yet she remains a political unknown.
The NDP’s one-person non-event provoked much mirth in the rival Liberal party, where veterans contrasted it with their own leadership race . Proof, these Liberals asserted snootily, that the NDP’s top prize wasn’t even worth a fight. The first to stand for the NDP leadership, she is the last woman standing while the Liberals are left squirming. Her anointment is no accident, so let’s give credit where credit is due.
Few doubt Stiles will energize a party that lost its mojo after 13 years under Andrea Horwath. But personality and imagery will only get you so far, while policy alone won’t get you where you need to go. It’s not just about diversity, but the adversity faced by all working Ontarians — or those without work — who once looked to the NDP for answers, not just questions and criticisms. New Democrats cannot define themselves solely as the party of the woke class without losing the working class and the union movement that co-founded the party decades ago.
And in 2022, Horwath’s NDP was the only major party whose share of the popular vote went down — by a devastating 10 percentage points to 23.7 per cent. The Liberals under an unpopular Steven Del Duca still grew their share more than four points to 23.9 per cent — nosing out the NDP to finish second in the popular vote.
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