New Liberal Majority at Queen's Park

All Hands on Deck Needed, Kathleen Wynne

By William Doyle-Marshall

“We went into the history books tonight. I am proud to be standing before you at this moment – the first woman to be elected Premier of Ontario.” Kathleen Wynne, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party made this pronouncement Tuesday night after her party won a majority – 59 seats -- to govern the province.

She faced off against New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath with a ‘plan that makes sense’ and Progressive Conservative Tim Hudak’s offer to cut 100,000 jobs and replace them with one million private sector jobs. In the end Hudak lost ten seats in the Ontario Parliament to Wynne and he announced his resignation as leader of his party.

  Wynne who promised to have parliament reconvened within three days, acknowledged having spent her adult life fighting for the public good, to make life a little bit easier, a bit more fulfilling, better for people and she is not going to stop.

  “You all know I am a runner and you know when you are running a race, you look past the finish line. You have to run through the finish line and that’s what we are doing because the hard work is now going to start. Now we’ve got to move to implement our plan,” she affirmed in her victory speech election night.

 Premier Wynne promised to take to parliament her part’s budget which the people of the province endorsed with the resounding victory. It was the same budget that NDP Leader Horwath rejected and election was called. “The people of Ontario want us to get on with creating good, well-paying jobs; they want us to get on with building the transit and transportation infrastructure that we know we need; they want us to get on with making sure the full day kindergarten is available to every four and five year olds, everyone and that anyone who wants to go to university or college or training that they get 30% off their tuition if they qualify and they want us to get on with setting up an Ontario retirement and pension plan so people could retire with dignity and security,” she reflected.

  Wynne promised to build a solid future for all Ontarians. Now that the elections are over the Premier emphasized there is work to be done. “All of us now in Ontario have to work together to make sure this is the best place to live, to make this a better place to live, work and raise a family,” she added.

  Wynne admitted there are candidates and there are volunteers all over this province who worked very hard over the last 38 days and they did not get the outcome that they wanted. She thanked them on behalf of all the people of Ontario for everything that they did and for their absolute commitment because everyone is needed. “We need all hands on deck,” the Premier urged.

   Premier Wynne praised the leaders of the other two parties and admitted they all took their ideas to the people of the province, debated them, talked about them in all corners of Ontario. “The province and its democracy is stronger for that process,” she observed.

Wynne thanked Hudak for his leadership and wished him all the best as he goes into the next phase of his life after stepping down as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party following his failed attempt to form the government.

As the New Democrats lost a couple of their downtown MPPs, Horwath was pleased that here party made gains in other parts of the province. She promised to move forward as a strong caucus which she interpreted as her party’s mandate from the election. “People of Ontario know very well, as New Democrats are very strong and we fight very hard. We are going to make sure that 25% of the people in this province who voted NDP are going to be proud of having cast their ballots that way because we are going to look after their interest. We are going to look out for them day in and day out in the legislature,” the NDP Leader stressed.

  Questioned about pulling the plug on the Liberal Government, forcing the election Horwath said it was the right decision to make at the time and the people have had their choice. Her party is prepared to work with that choice and make sure they deliver for Ontarians. The election gave voters an opportunity to make a decision Horwath continued and she emphasized, people of the province deserve the respect of being able to make a decision of how they are going forward. “They’ve done that tonight and I am very excited about getting to work back with them ,” Horwath said.

  The New Democrats were able to pick up a couple of seats and increase its popular support which is important because Ontarians know when the NDP are in their corner when it comes to the issues that are important to them and that’s what they do and the leader assured “that’s what we are going to continue to do.”

   “Thank you so much”. This was uttered by Wynne,  ten times amidst shouts of jubilation – applause and chanting -- before she actually got into her speech from the podium. The first woman elected Premier in the history of Ontario was visibly overjoyed at her victory in Tuesday’s Ontario elections, winning a majority mandate from the people. And even while expressing her appreciation to the voters, the Premier again had to remark “Thank you” another six times.
  “Thank you people of Ontario, for the choice that you made tonight”. That was followed again by another three ‘thank you’s’ and applause. “You did it, you voted for jobs; you voted for growth. Thank you for voting to build Ontario up.”

The Premier expressed her thanks to all of the voters in Ontario, for their strong mandate. Because of the trust they place in the Liberal Party of Ontario, Wynne was emphatic “we will not let you down”.  She was proud Ontarians have put their trust in her party to move this province forward with integrity. “We will not take you for granted,” she added.

 In thanking the 107 candidates on her party’s campaign team, Wynne acknowledged them as a fantastic group of people, whether they got the outcome tonight that they wanted or not.  She was proud to have been part of that team. The candidates and all the volunteers’ commitment inspires her every single day, the Premier disclosed. “This victory belongs to all of us, every single one of us and I am so proud to be standing in front of you as the first woman to ever have been elected as the Premier of Ontario,” Wynne added