Ontario Liberals did the right thing when they
pushed out leader Bonnie Crombie on the weekend
. She will be 69 by the time of the next election, doesn’t have a seat in the legislature, and has not created a clear image for herself or the party.
Crombie had to go. She’s a hard worker, but not a smart politician.
Crombie’s fatal flaws are indecision and lack of political instincts. The fact that Crombie at first didn’t want to resign immediately after mediocre 57 per cent support at the convention illustrates the problem. First she said she’d stay on as leader. Then, after others pointed out the folly of that plan, she changed her mind and quit.
It’s what she should have done after a
disappointing election result in February
. Yes, the Liberals got 30 per cent of the popular vote, but only 14 seats. Crombie couldn’t even win her own riding in Mississauga, a community where she had served as mayor for a decade. That left her with the impossible task of trying to lead the party from outside the legislature. It’s telling that no one in her caucus offered to give up their seat to help their leader.
Voters can be forgiven for not knowing what Crombie stood for. That seemed to be a mystery to Crombie, too. Early on, she
said she’d govern from the centre-right,
then later said she had misspoken. How do you misspeak on your own political philosophy?
Crombie wanted an election about health care but failed to deliver a simple, memorable policy on that important issue. PC leader Doug Ford talked non-stop about American tariffs, seizing the political moment. His party also cleverly spiked Crombie’s health-care push by offering a plausible plan to expand primary care coverage.
The Liberals seemed to be caught unprepared for the widely telegraphed premature election. If a leader and her team are not good at strategy or tactics, there isn’t much left.
The Liberals are taking a risk by switching leaders. After all, this is the party that thought Steven Del Duca could be premier. It’s difficult to imagine why.
This time, they need to be smarter than when they picked Crombie and Del Duca. That starts with insisting that the new leader come from their caucus. The Liberals simply must have a leader in the legislature. Some second-tier federal Liberals might want the job, but they will have the same no-seat problem as Crombie.
The Liberals’ little caucus has limited name recognition, but some of them have good resumes. The prize should go to the contender who can identify the party’s target audience and articulate policies that appeal to them. Young people shut out of jobs and housing would be a good start.
Returning the Ontario Liberal party to power is not the hopeless cause it might seem. While Ford’s PCs are miles ahead in vote intentions, there is a troubling weakness behind those numbers.
New research by the Angus Reid Institute
shows three-quarters of those polled say the Ford government is performing poorly on their most important issues; cost of living, health care, and housing affordability.
As formidable as Ford seems now, there is a possibility than he won’t run in 2029. Ford will have been in office for 11 years by then. A fourth term is a big challenge, although there isn’t an obvious successor in the PC ranks.
There is an opportunity there for the Liberals, but they need some strategic thinking. Some will want to push the party to the left, as if their competition is the NDP. That’s true only if your goal is second place.
To win, the Liberals need to take votes and seats from the PCs. Crombie wasn’t wrong when she briefly advocated governing from the centre-right. That’s territory Ford himself has largely abdicated with his big deficits and uncontrolled spending.
It was encouraging this week to see Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman, a chartered accountant and former bank executive,
attacking the Ford government for its deficits
.
Ford is often criticized for governing like a Liberal, but without the sanctimonious rhetoric. There’s certainly some truth to it.
With the PCs becoming less conservative under Ford, the door is open for the Liberals to become more like traditional PCs. It sounds odd, but then in the recent federal election Liberals stole Conservative ideas with the enthusiasm of a looter during a riot and it didn’t seem to bother voters.
Ontario’s Liberals have challenges aplenty, but they’ve taken the first important step in meeting them. The chances of Crombie ever becoming premier were slim to none. In accepting that reality, the Liberals are at least showing that they expect success, unlike the NDP, which seems to welcome failure.
It’s a start.
National Post
randalldenley1@gmail.com
