By Pepper Parr
June 14th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has her eye on the prize – leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has made it abundantly clear that she will be running for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Given the serious mess the province is in, provincial politics needs a serious shake-up.
When Ms Crombie formally announces later today that she will seek the leadership, why can’t something like the following take place ?
The other announced candidates for the provincial Liberal leadership announce they are withdrawing.
The executive of the party would then move the date for the selection of the new leader from December to September.
Crombie becomes the leader of the Ontario Liberal party.
Premier Doug Ford – the headache is only going to get worse.
She spends the summer touring the province introducing herself to the public and telling the people of Ontario where Doug Ford has gotten it all wrong.
Doug Ford can spend his summer explaining his way out of the mess he has created.
Natalie Pierre, current MPP for Burlington, spends her summer figuring out how to run a constituency office.
Former Chair of the Halton District School Board Andrea Grebenc.
Then Andrea Grebenc could announce that she will seek the nomination as the Liberal candidate for Burlington in the next election and spend her summer making sure that the people of Burlington know who she is and what she brings to the table.
Now – what’s wrong with that picture?
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
With the countless failings of the Trudeau government, current liberal ideology coupled with the massive failings of the previous McGuinty government and Wynne government (selling Hydro One, massive increases in electrical prices and closures of high schools) not sure how anyone can be positive about Liberals in Ontario. Clearly the comments here reflect the Liberal base with with selective amnesia of historical events and policies.
I wish Mrs. Crombie well, we were speakers at an Sustainable Cities event in Oakville seven or 8 years ago, had a chance to chat through out the event, has a great sense of humor and clearly very capable.
I certainly hope the Ontario Liberals get their act together fast and find a credible alternative to Doug Ford. This provincial government is a never-ending train wreck that careens wildly from one failed initiative to another. From health care to land use planning to education reforms they are increasingly out-of-touch and out-of-sync with Ontario voters. This isn’t the Progressive Conservative government of Bill Davis, but rather, some bizarre, amorphous collection of real estate developers, hayseeds, political neophytes and crass opportunists who have no understanding of government or modern public administration.
That said, the Ontario Liberals desperately need a leader who is distinctly different from Kathleen Wynne. They need someone who combines fiscal prudence with common sense, and understands that the public purse isn’t a bottomless pit from which to reward their friends and special interest groups. The profligate spending habits of Wynne’s government undermined the province’s financial well-being and badly damaged the Ontario Liberals’ reputation. Let’s hope they’ve learned something from five years in the political wilderness.
Whether Bonnie Crombie is the right candidate remains to be seen, but as a former PC supporter, right now she looks infinitely more appealing than an autocratic Premier who is even more witless than his feckless brother.
Very well said!!
It is rich that the best Doug Ford can do is sneer that Bonnie Crombie ought to stick to being a Mayor. He himself demonstrated he was unfit to be a Mayor, or even a Councillor, yet somehow jumped the political queue, and obviously now wants to be Strong Mayor of all Ontario. What the world needs desperately is principled and competent LEADERS. Let’s hope.
Joe’s prediction is his opinion, which is fundamentally democratic for him to have and express, not undemocratic as Jim says.
Where his prediction became a decision that Bonnie should be crowned is beyond me – it’s the opposite.
She still has to go through the process described, and explain herself, and get herself chosen as the best, and then voted in by, and only then crowned by, the party members, and leadership.
Joe supports her, will likely vote for her (he does not say) and thinks, hopes, and “predicts” she will win.
What is fundamentally undemocratic about this? I see nothing wrong here.
Maybe you should read the article.
I didn’t comment on Joe’s prediction.
I put my comment in the wrong place – it was supposed to be directly below Jim, as a comment on his.
No matter, my sentiments remain the same and stemmed from that.
Joe G, does not support Crombie, nor will he vote for her if the Liberal Party mini van party keeps “jibing” to the left of the NDP. Her greenbelt shift is puzzling though.
He does follow politics closely and is also predicting the Trudeau government is quickly approaching its end point and if Poilievre can do a minor course correction to his rhetoric he may well be our next P.M.
Sorry for taking the Bonnie Crombie discussion off course but I could not reisist the temptation.
My prediction, Crombie will be the new leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario.
“Now – what’s wrong with that picture?”
It is fundamentally undemocratic.
You have decided that Bonnie Crombie should be Crowned as leader of the Provincial Liberals. That’s a decision that belongs to the members of the party. Maybe they have different ideas.
Bonnie Crombie needs to spend the summer campaigning to win the leadership and introducing herself to the Liberal Party to show them that she is the best candidate. That means signing up members, who will vote for her.
Democacy it’s all about voting.
While I might agree with you that ‘democracy is all about voting’ which is why I believe that it should be made mandatory, I can not agree that being the best candidate “means signing up members who will vote for [you]”. The ‘whoever brings in the most registered members gets the crown’ gave us Doug Ford rather than Christine Elliot and Steven Del Duca rather than anyone more credible (which would have been anyone else).
I believe that Mr. Parr is simply presenting a slate of candidates who could actually provide a viable opposition to the Ford Government and its autocratic, self-serving policies and open patronage. Nothing wrong with that. I’d personally prefer the former leadership convention format with deals/alliances being made behind the scenes and unsuccessful candidates crossing the floor to sit with their preferred choice. Old school politics out in the very dramatic open.
As for his comment about the current MPP’s Constituency Office, I will have much more to say about that at some future date. And my comments will not be kind.
I agree with your points, Blair. I hope Ms. Crombie becomes the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario and brings along some capable candidates for future cabinet positions. No mention of Andrea Grebenc so far in the comments so I will also hope she can become the Liberal candidate for Burlington. Not only would a victory for her in the next election be a welcome change in Burlington but it would also rid us of our current MPP who is unknown to more citizens than Ms. Grebenc despite the fact that she is an MPP.
I should add that I am a member of no political party and never have been, but I have voted for candidates of nearly every stripe over my voting years based on my best judgement at the time of elections.