Marit Stiles set to become Ontario’s NDP leader

Stiles will be the next leader of the provincial New Democrats after she was the lone candidate to enter the party contest.

Thestar.com
Dec. 6, 2022
Kristin Rushowy, Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

Marit Stiles is the one and only.

Stiles will be the next leader of the provincial New Democrats after she was the lone candidate to enter the party contest.

The NDP’s 1 a.m. Tuesday deadline passed with no other entrants signing up -- more than two months after the Davenport MPP joined the race to replace Andrea Horwath, who resigned on June 2.

That means the new leader of the official opposition to Premier Doug Ford’s two-term Progressive Conservatives will effectively be acclaimed.

“Marit Stiles will work tirelessly to end the era of Conservative cuts and privatization by running to form a government that puts working people at the heart of everything we do,” party president Janelle Brady said Tuesday.

“Together with Marit, we will work to build a party and a 2026 election campaign with space for working people and labour, progressives, racialized and equity-deserving Ontarians, and young people,” said Brady.

“Marit can give people hope and unite the province to defeat Doug Ford -- to make life affordable and rebuild and improve health care and education.”

An NDP news release said Canadian political parties have “a long tradition of unopposed leadership candidates going on to win the premier’s office in the next election,” including John Horgan, Dave Barrett, and Mike Harcourt in British Columbia.

Still, New Democrats frown upon acclamation and insist on votes even in uncontested nomination races, according to the party constitution.

That means there will be a “confirmation vote” to rubber-stamp Stiles’ triumph.

It remains unclear how long interim NDP leader Peter Tabuns will remain on the job.

Stiles is a former president of the federal NDP and a Toronto public school board trustee. The married mother of two was first elected as an MPP in 2018 after defeating Liberal incumbent Cristina Martins.

The Davenport MPP spent last summer building support for her bid.

“We need to be ready to win in 2026, and I feel like we can do that,” she told the Star recently.

This is the moment and this is the time ... for us to dig deep and defeat Doug Ford.”

Party members, who had a Jan. 3 cutoff date to join the NDP, were supposed to elect the new leader on March 4.

Stiles will succeed Horwath, who had led the NDP since 2009, quit on election night and was elected mayor of Hamilton in October.

A number of New Democrat MPPs had mulled bids, including Chris Glover (Spadina-Fort York), who was apparently trying to raise the required $55,000 entry fee as late as Monday afternoon.

Others who had considered running were Jill Andrew (Toronto-St. Paul’s), Catherine Fife (Waterloo), Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre), and Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls).

Stiles, who was born in Newfoundland, has been an NDP activist for 30 years.

One of her first jobs when she moved to Ontario was working for Gilles Bisson who, after 32 years in office, lost his Timmins seat to Tory George Pirie last June.

The one-candidate NDP leadership contest stands in contrast to previous races held by the Conservatives and Liberals who fielded many of hopefuls.

That has led to mockery from some quarters.

“Nobody is interested in their leadership race. Nobody is interested in their policies,” Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark said of the New Democrats in the legislature last month.

The leader of the opposition post pays $180,886 a year compared with the $116,550 base salary for an MPP.

Meanwhile, the Liberals -- who won eight seats to the NDP’s 31 last spring despite getting slightly more votes across Ontario -- have yet to determine when they will select their next leader.