Voting is underway among 2,300 delegates at this weekend’s Ontario Liberal Party convention in Toronto, which will decide the future of Bonnie Crombie as leader.
Heading into the convention a poll by Mainstreet Research finds 36 per cent of Liberals want to see change at the top, with 17 per cent pointing to Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith as a potential replacement.
“I believe it’s quite dated, I believe that poll was done in February of this year, not a recent poll, but I understand change is important to our members, so that’s exactly what we’re proposing,” Crombie tells 680 NewsRadio while acknowledging some missteps during the last provincial election in February.
A report released by the party earlier in the week concluded their campaign’s focus on health care and a family doctor shortage did not resonate with voters, who were more focused on affordability. The campaign debrief also found there was not enough to differentiate the Liberals from the NDP or Progressive Conservatives, and not enough was done to define Doug Ford.
“The buck always stops with me, so I take full accountability,” said Crombie, who also failed to win her own riding, leaving her without a seat in the legislature.
Still, it points out that the party were able to regain official party status for the first time in seven years, winning 14 seats and that the party received 30 per cent of the popular vote while electing five new MPPs, flipping both PC and NDP ridings.
The Liberal constitution says Crombie needs 50 per cent plus one to stay on as leader, but Erskine-Smith and a grassroots group known as The New Leaf Liberals are calling for her to resign if she receives any less than 66 per cent support.
Crombie won’t say what she will do if she manages to get less than two-thirds support, but she appeared to be pouring cold water on the notion that she needs to achieve the higher benchmark.
“The numbers are arbitrary, the thresholds that have been set,” she said. “I will know this weekend if I’ve earned the trust and the respect of our membership. …I’m very confident about the results of this weekend. I look forward to remaining on as leader.”
Noah Parker, one of the New Leaf organizers, said 66 per cent is the minimum threshold by which a leader should consider they have the support of their party members.
“If (Crombie) can get that command of the party, and the vast majority of Ontario Liberals support her then so will we, but if she can’t, then we should move on as a party and find a leader who can,” Parker said in an interview.
“We’re not shy to say that we think a leadership race would be good for our party, good for our Liberal movement, and would better our chances at beating Doug Ford.”
Crombie is scheduled to address delegates on Saturday afternoon, and the results of the leadership vote are expected to be known on Sunday afternoon.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
