Ontario Liberals to launch platform push for next year’s election

Thestar.com
Jan. 13, 2021

The third-place Ontario Liberals are set to begin building the election platform they hope will return them to power next year.

With a little more than 500 days until the 2022 vote, the Liberals on Wednesday will unveil MPP Michael Coteau (Don Valley East) and candidate Kate Graham as co-chairs of the platform committee.

Coteau and Graham were the runners-up to party chief Steven Del Duca in last March’s Liberal leadership race.

“We have a great deal of work to do in order to earn the trust and confidence of Ontarians and the creation of a compelling and relatable platform is essential to our success,” Del Duca said in a letter to his former rivals which was shared with the Star.

“There is a tremendous amount of both interest and excitement about platform development within our party’s grassroots,” he wrote.

“It is clear that many of the nearly 75,000 people who comprise our membership are eager to get involved. We have a responsibility to tap into this reservoir of talent, interest and expertise in a meaningful way.”

Del Duca -- like Coteau, a former minister in premier Kathleen Wynne’s government that was toppled by Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in June 2018 -- said the Liberals must reach out to others for input in crafting a winning manifesto.

“Doing so will no doubt help us create a stronger platform that strikes a chord with those we seek to serve,” the leader wrote.

“There are thousands of Ontario residents, outside our party, who share our commitment to building an Ontario that is both prosperous and progressive,” he added.

“This includes far too many who have historically been under-represented and disadvantaged -- women, the disabled, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, and of course, our vulnerable seniors.”

Del Duca stressed “our platform development work will be incomplete if we do not provide these individuals with a genuine opportunity to participate.”

“Their inclusion will help to broaden our perspective and strengthen the coalition of support that we are building.”

Noting “the ordeal that the people of Ontario have endured over the past 10 months is hard to exaggerate,” he said the party must address the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 5,000 Ontarians.

“The platform that we ultimately present to the electorate must align with their rightful belief that government has a core responsibility to provide security and build resiliency,” wrote Del Duca.

To that end, he said it must tackle ways to improve the economy, boost public education and health care, and tackle climate change.

“We have a remarkable opportunity to amplify our empathy and accentuate the hopeful optimism and indomitable spirit that have long helped to define Ontario and its people.”

After almost 15 years in power under Wynne and former premier Dalton McGuinty, the Liberals were reduced to third place in the Ontario legislature, behind Ford’s Tories and Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats.

Voters are to go to the polls on June 2, 2022.