Interest in the leadership of Ontario’s New Democrats is growing in the wake of Andrea Horwath’s election night resignation.
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates, a former autoworker union local president in the border region, is mulling a bid for the job.
“I’m certainly interested in exploring the options,” Gates said Thursday.
“I’ve been a pretty strong voice for workers and I think we need to make sure our next leader is a strong voice for workers,” added the former president of Unifor Local 199, a post he held for 12 years representing members at 20 employers from auto dealerships to libraries and machine shops.
The NDP fell to 31 seats in the June 2 election that saw Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives win a second term with a bigger majority than in 2018, with 83 MPPs. The New Democrats won 40 seats in 2018 to become the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park, an advantage they retain.
Political casualties in this year’s election included former deputy leader Sara Singh in Brampton Centre, Gurratan Singh — brother of federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh — in Brampton East, and veteran MPP Gilles Bisson in Timmins. Faisal Hassan lost in York South-Weston to the premier’s nephew, Michael Ford.
The NDP also failed to hold two Windsor-area ridings where incumbents were not running to Ford’s Progressive Conservatives, who used their “Big Blue Collar Machine” campaign strategy to court the labor vote, eating into the NDP’s margins in several working-class ridings they did not win.
Gates is one of several New Democrat MPPs who is considering a bid as potential candidates wait for the party to set rules for the race and a timeline for a leadership vote. Others include Marit Stiles (Davenport), Joel Harden (Ottawa Centre) and Catherine Fife (Waterloo).
Toronto Center MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, a former Toronto city councillor, said at the legislature’s orientation for new members this week that she does not intend to seek the NDP leadership.
Earlier this week, the caucus signaled to the party executive that it wants veteran Toronto-Danforth MPP Peter Tabuns, a former director of Greenpeace, to serve as interim leader during the leadership race.
Meanwhile, the devastated Liberals are taking a slower approach after winning just eight seats on election night, short of the 12 needed to qualify for official party status and several million dollars in taxpayer funding. That is just one more seat than the party won in 2018, and a disappointing result that puts the Liberals in rebuilding mode yet again.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca will stay on for several more weeks before his election night resignation takes effect, but the party has not yet sorted out who will be interim leader in the legislature or announced any details for an eventual leadership race.
Ottawa South MPP John Fraser served as interim leader following the resignation of former premier Kathleen Wynne after the party’s crushing 2018 election defeat.
Outside of the eight-member caucus, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York) told the Star last week that he is considering a bid for leadership of the provincial party, a job that observers say will require a long-term commitment .
“No question that I’m interested in helping to rebuild the party,” said Erskine, who is in his third term in Ottawa.
Other candidates could include previous leadership contenders Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood), and Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands), a former Liberal MP.
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