Profile - Ontario NDP Party

As part of the lead up to the 2011 Provincial Election in Ontario I will be profile each of the 4 major political parties and their leaders.

Back in 2009, Ontario's New Democrats elected their first female leader, picking Hamilton candidate Andrea Horwath to succeed Howard Hampton.

The MPP for Hamilton Centre won the job on the third ballot at a leadership convention where she was the lone female candidate, running on the slogan, "It's time."
"I have my own style, I have my own perspective, and I'm going to bring that to the table," an exuberant Horwath told reporters after the vote was announced.
"The first order of business is holding Dalton McGuinty to account in question period".
The 46-year-old won with 60.4 per cent of the vote on the final ballot over MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth) with 39.6 per cent.
Horwath's victory was assured when rival candidate and MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay) crossed the convention floor to deliver his support after finishing last on the second ballot.
Tabuns, a former Toronto city councillor, could not overcome Horwath's support from organized labour, which held 25 per cent of the votes at the convention, including the United Steelworkers union and Ontario Federation of Labour president Wayne Samuelson.
"We have all sorts of problems to deal with in this province and through the course of this campaign she set herself up as different," Samuelson said.
"She has a new kind of energy. I think she will draw the attention of people looking for alternatives to the McGuinty government. This woman is clearly special."
The other candidate, MPP Michael Prue (Beaches-East York), had the lowest support on the first ballot and was forced by convention rules to drop out of the race.

The only other woman to lead a major political party in Ontario was Liberal Lyn McLeod, who lost to the Progressive Conservatives in the 1995 election and later stepped down.
In a statement, McGuinty congratulated Horwath and said he hopes they can "work together ... to build a stronger Ontario – especially during a global recession." Some New Democrats are worried about a growing threat from the Green Party, which placed a distant third in the by-election in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, but still ahead of the NDP in fourth spot.

The NDP who governed Ontario from 1990 to 1995 under the leadership of now Liberal MP, Bob Rae will have a real battle on their hands in the upcoming 2011 election. The NDP will always be remembered as the party that nearly bankrupt Ontario with "Rae Days" increased speanding on social programs, and giving in to the unions who have always been their major supporters.

People in Ontario don't forget and they usually don't forgive any political party that has done them harm. The Liberals were booted out of the office by the NDP in the 1990 election because of increasing the Provincial debt, and Ontario took a chance on the NDP. In 1995 voters again wanted change and booted the NDP from power and gave the PC's a chance and they were the government in power from 1995 to 2003, when again the voters of Ontario wanted change and brought back the Liberals who've been in power ever since.



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