After getting just over two-thirds support in Saturday’s leadership vote, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles says she understands the party needs to change if it’s going to win the next election.
Stiles received 68 per cent of the votes at the party’s annual convention in Niagara Falls, Ont., held just one week after Bonnie Crombie stepped down as leader of the Ontario Liberals after getting only 57 per cent of her party’s vote in a similar review.
Speaking to members after the leadership review, Stiles thanked the delegates for their vote and promised to step up.
“We need to make change in this party if we’re going to defeat Doug Ford in the next election, and we will do that,” she said, moments before delegates began chanting her name.
Stiles told party members earlier in the day that she would focus on issues that matter most to Ontarians, like addressing the rising cost of living, increasing access to health care and funding the province’s schools.
“We don’t need stunts,” she said of Ford dumping a bottle of Crown Royal out to protest the announcement of a plant closure in Amherstburg, Ont.
“We need jobs. And you know what else we need? We need a plan to protect them.”
Disappointing election, internal struggles
While enough for Stiles to retain her leadership role, the result was by some accounts a disappointment.
In this year’s snap election, the NDP was able to win the second-most ridings to remain the province’s official opposition for the seventh straight year. But the party came in third in the popular vote with 18 per cent, behind both the winning Progressive Conservatives and the now-rudderless Liberals.
Long-time NDP strategist Erin Morrison told CBC News that result likely factored heavily into Saturday’s vote.
“Looks like three in 10 delegates said, ‘You didn’t win the last election,'” she said.
Stiles told CBC News earlier this summer that the election result wasn’t good enough. She then spent the summer touring the province, visiting 50 different ridings to connect with members.
With the Liberal Party now looking for a new leader, Morrison said Stiles will need to capitalize as the only serious opposition to Ford’s PCs.
Stiles now has to “fight to win,” she added.
“We lost 800,000 jobs in Ontario. We’re struggling with health care. We’re struggling with housing. And yet, Doug Ford was able to easily win the premier seat again,” said Morrison.
“It’s absolutely critical that the NDP changes what it does so that, in the next election, people have a real choice [and] can actually picture Premier Stiles in the premier’s chair.”
But delegate Justin Kong said the lacklustre result was about more than just the election.
The removal of former Hamilton Centre MPP Sara Jama left some in the party, like Kong, frustrated with the NDP leader.
Stiles kicked Jama out of the party’s caucus in October 2023, following an uproar over comments Jama had made in support of Palestinians after Hamas-led attacks on Israel that month.
Jama was subsequently barred from running for the party in the last election.
Sarah Jama is running in the provincial election as an Independent candidate to retain the Hamilton Centre seat she won in 2023 as a member of the New Democratic Party. She was removed as a member of the NDP caucus after a social media post which called for a ceasefire as well as an “end to all occupation of Palestinian land.” She was also censured by the Ontario government which prevented her from speaking in the legislature. That censure ends after this election.
“I think it shows very clearly that members are unhappy with how the party has handled issues,” Kong said. “I think members absolutely wanted to send a strong message.”
Sudbury MPP Jamie West said to form the next government, Stiles will need to develop a clear message for the party.
“People are suffering under Doug Ford. They’re looking for alternatives. We want to provide those alternatives. And more importantly, communicate them really effectively,” he said.
“A lot of people are facing that affordability crisis. We’re working hard against it. But we have to do better communicating that,” West added. “And we need to effectively communicate the bad work that Doug Ford is doing to make their lives even harder.”
