Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles received 68 per cent support of delegates at the party’s weekend convention in Niagara Falls on Saturday as she pledged the party would learn from its mistakes in last February’s election and give the people of Ontario “something to vote for.”
One week after Bonnie Crombie lost her grip on the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, Stiles survived by barely eclipsing the two-thirds threshold. Unlike Crombie, there were no outward indications that she was facing a challenge to retain the leadership of the party.
While the NDP held on to Official Opposition status following February’s snap election, the party failed to make any gains from 2022, losing four seats and finishing third in the popular vote behind the Liberals and Conservatives.
Stiles, who was acclaimed leader of the Ontario NDP in 2023 following Andrea Horwath’s resignation, says she spent the summer visiting 50 ridings across the province and getting the pulse of party members.
“We need to change how we do things. We know we can’t run the same campaign and expect different results. We will learn from that last election. We will build beyond the solid core that we held, and we will hold Doug Ford to account,” Stiles said in her speech to party delegates.
“We will offer the people of Ontario a better government, something to vote for.”
Recent polling data shows the NDP face a tough uphill climb if it wants to achieve those goals.
An Abacus Data poll conducted at the end of August showed 53 per cent of Ontarians support the Ford government, while the NDP are languishing in third place with 12 per cent, 15 points behind the Liberals. And Ford himself continues to maintain a healthy lead among Ontarians when it comes to their preferred choice for Premier at 48 per cent, while Stiles is the choice of just 12 per cent of those asked.
Stiles called Premier Doug Ford a “jobs disaster,” citing the sputtering economy and eight per cent unemployment rate.
“Eight hundred thousand people unemployed in this province already. Doug Ford is a jobs disaster,” she told reporters. “We cannot afford this and the people of Ontario need us, not only to step up and push back and demand better from this Premier, but also to fight to form a government to defeat him in the next election.”
Stiles also announced the formation of the Ontario NDP Leadership program to help identify and train future leaders of the party.
“Our new leadership program is going to give participants the skills and the mentorship and the hands-on experience to lead us to victory in 2029 and beyond,” said Stiles. “We have to rebuild that grassroots support, riding by riding, and neighbour by neighbour.”