Marit Stiles, the current education critic for the Ontario NDP, became the first candidate to launch a bid to lead the party on Thursday, saying she is focused on bringing down the Progressive Conservative government. .
Stiles, a former school trustee, has represented the Toronto riding of Davenport since 2018 and said she wants to lead the Ontario NDP in standing up for the province’s hardworking people.
“Just as we get back into public life like this, people are being hit with the rising cost of groceries and rent — you name it,” Stiles said at his campaign launch.
“Under Doug Ford’s Conservatives, people are working harder than ever, but falling further and further behind. Spending 60% of your income on rent is not normal. Waiting 12 hours in the emergency room before seeing a doctor is not normal. being shipped off to private nursing homes away from their families is not normal.”
The party’s top job became available after Andrea Horwath resigned on election night.
Horwath, who is now running for mayor of Hamilton, had led the NDP since 2009 and saw it rise from third-party status to official opposition status in 2018 with 40 seats. But the New Democrats slipped to 31 seats in the June election.
The party said a new leader will be in place by March 2023 and candidates have until December to register for the race.
As the first candidate to officially declare she is in the race, Stiles also launched her campaign with the support of fellow caucus members Kristyn Wong-Tam, Bhutila Karpoche and Chandra Pasma.
Several NDP caucus members said they were considering potential leadership candidates, including Laura Mae Lindo, who represents Kitchener Center, and Wayne Gates, who represents Niagara Falls.
A few dozen supporters showed up at a patio bar in Stiles’ constituency for the launch event on Thursday, cheering “MVP, MVP.”
Stiles made his pitch by touting progressive good faith.
“The New Democratic Party was founded by a coalition of workers and progressives, forged together to build political power,” said Stiles, who worked for 10 years with the performers’ union ACTRA.
“These are our roots. They are mine too. As a former Director of Negotiations and Policy, I helped negotiate national agreements, higher wages, better working conditions and build coalitions in the whole trade union movement at the same time.”
Stiles said she would travel across the province to listen to voters and pledged to build a movement “from the bottom up.”
“My program will be a positive vision for this province,” she said. “It’s about jobs and opportunities.”
The party lost three seats in Brampton, Ont., to the Conservatives in the last election, an area Stiles said she would target.
“We are not going to form the government in this province unless we can win in every region,” she said.
The NDP has long struggled to make inroads in rural southern Ontario – Stiles said she will work to make the party appealing to residents of those areas.
“I grew up in Newfoundland, with goats and in a rural community, I have that role,” she said. “I think a lot of people in rural communities, in northern communities, feel misunderstood, they feel like no one is listening to them.”
The party said it was in a strong position financially, as well as with its supporters and volunteers.
The leader will be chosen by preferential ballot, which means that voters can select the candidates they prefer in order of preference.
– with files by Allison Jones
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 22.
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