2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election


The 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election was concluded on March 7, 2020, resulting in the election of Steven Del Duca, a former cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne, as Ontario Liberal Party’s 33rd leader.
The leadership election took place following the resignation of Kathleen Wynne after over five years at the helm of the party. Her resignation took place on the evening of June 7, 2018, after the majority government led by her was defeated in the 2018 election and the party lost official party status.
The leadership election featured six candidates: former cabinet ministers Del Duca, Michael Coteau, and Mitzie Hunter, former provincial election candidates Kate Graham and Alvin Tedjo, and political newcomer Brenda Hollingsworth. The election was concluded with a delegated convention that took place March 6-7, 2020 at the International Centre in Mississauga.

Background

Lead up to the 2018 Election

After securing an upset leadership victory in 2013, Kathleen Wynne won a fourth consecutive mandate for the Ontario Liberal Party in June 2014 by marketing herself as a fresh face for the Liberals who would distance the party fromDalton McGuinty. However, the Liberals' standing with voters was badly hurt when Wynne’s government partially privatized Hydro One in 2015, after campaigning against it in the 2014 election, as well as rising criticism over "ballooning provincial debt, high electricity prices and costly, politically expedient decisions". The party headed into the 2018 election campaign trailing far behind the Progressive Conservatives. In the two years leading up to the 2018 campaign, the Liberals trailed the Progressive Conservatives in all but three of the more than eighty opinion polls published.
With the party’s electoral fortune declining, there were public calls for Wynne’s resignation as early as spring 2017, most notably from former finance minister and campaign chair Greg Sorbora. Wynne consistently resisted the calls. Throughout the 2018 election campaign, the Liberals polled consistently in third place behind not only the Progressive Conservatives but also the New Democrats. projected zero to two seats for the Liberals at multiple points of the election campaign.
At the conclusion of the campaign, the Liberals elected only seven MPPs, losing official party status in the Legislature. It was the worst electoral result in the party's 161-year history and the worst result for any incumbent governing party in Ontario. On the night of the election, Wynne announced her resignation as party leader, while continuing to sit in the legislature as MPP for Don Valley West.

Interim leader

Wynne announced on election night that she had asked the party president to begin the process of choosing an interim leader. According to the party's constitution, an interim leader is to be selected by a vote of the party caucus, the presidents of riding associations without an elected Liberal MPPs and party executive members. With four of the remaining seven caucus members actively contemplating leadership bids, one being in poor health, and one being the outgoing leader, the Liberal caucus quickly endorsed the seventh member, Ottawa South MPP John Fraser, to serve as interim leader on June 13, 2018. Fraser assumed the office of interim leader on June 14, following a ratification vote of party executives and presidents of riding associations for the remaining 117 ridings that do not have a Liberal MPP.

Rules and procedures

Under the procedure outlined by the party's constitution, all members of the Ontario Liberal Party are eligible to cast a two-part ballot at one of the "Leadership Election Meetings" held across the province. Members vote directly for their choice of leadership candidate in the top part of the ballot, and for local delegates for the leadership convention in the bottom part of the ballot. Elected delegates were apportioned to leadership candidates based on their share of votes in the top part of the ballot, and are bounded to vote for their leadership candidates on the first ballot at the leadership convention. The small number of independent delegates elected can vote for whomever they chose at the convention.
The delegates of the leadership convention made up of approximately 2000 elected delegates and more than 500 ex-officio delegates. Balloting at convention continues until one candidate receives a majority of ballots cast.
At the party's Annual General Meeting held on June 8, 2019, an organized attempt was made to amend the party constitution to change the leadership election system to eliminate the delegated convention and adopted a weighted One Member One Vote point system similar to the ones used by the Progressive Conservatives and the federal Liberal Party. The amendment was supported by 57% of delegates, but failed to receive the two-thirds majority required for it to pass.

Leadership Campaign

Early campaigning

Given the weak polling numbers during the final years of the Wynne government, there was frequent chatter about the leadership aspirations of various cabinet members and MPPs. The names most frequently discussed were of finance minister Charles Sousa, health minister Eric Hoskins, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, transport minister Steven Del Duca, and backbench MPP Yvan Baker.
With Sousa, Del Duca, Naqvi and Baker all losing their seats and Hoskins leaving provincial politics, the likely slate of candidates became uncertain after the 2018 election. In the latter half of 2018, four former ministers who survived the election, Michael Coteau, Mitzie Hunter, Marie-France Lalonde, and Nathalie Des Rosiers, actively explored their candidacies, while the candidacies of Del Duca, Naqvi, and Baker continued to be frequently speculated. Baker and Lalonde later opted to seek federal seats. Des Rosiers left politics to become principal of Massey College, while Naqvi became CEO of Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Del Duca briefly sought the chair-ship of York Region until the election was cancelled by the Ford government. Adam Vaughan and Mark Holland, two relatively high-profile MPs, both publicly acknowledged that they contemplated and subsequently ruled out bids, opting to seek re-election federally.

Formal campaign

On April 3, 2019, Del Duca formally declared his candidacy, the first candidate to do so. This was prior to the party’s annual general meeting in June where amendment proposals to the leadership rules were being debated. Del Duca refrained from taking positions on any of the amendment proposals, citing perceived conflict of interests. Alvin Tedjo, a former political aide and provincial election candidate, declared his candidacy in late May. An organized “draft Chris Hadfield” movement was present at the party’s annual meeting, even though the former astronaut at no point expressed any inclination to enter politics.
Following the annual meeting, the party announced that it would formally “call” the leadership contest on July 18, 2019, that candidate registration deadline would be on November 25, 2019, and that the contest would conclude at a convention on March 7, 2020. It also announced an entrance fee of $100,000 and a spending limit of $900,000.
Coteau announced his candidacy soon after the party’s annual meeting in June, while Hunter formally joined the race in early August. Kate Graham, a university instructor and former provincial election candidate, joined the race in September. Kyle Peterson, outgoing MP for Newmarket-Aurora, and Arthur Potts, a former MPP, both commenced bids in the fall of 2019, but ended their bids prior to formally launching their campaigns. Ottawa lawyer Brenda Hollingsworth, a political newcomer, joined the race on the registration deadline, rounding out the field of six.
The party organized six debates among the candidates, held in Guelph, Windsor, Sudbury, Ottawa, Markham and Toronto. All six debates were livestreamed on the party’s website. In addition, the Empire Club of Canada hosted a debate on January 15, and TVO hosted a televised debate on February 19.
The party imposed membership cut-off for voting eligibility for December 2, 2019. At the cut-off, Del Duca claimed to have recruited 14,173 members while Coteau, Hunter and Tedjo claimed 8500, 2000 and 1000 respectively. The party later disclosed that 37,831 members in total were eligible to vote.
Del Duca was seen as the frontrunner throughout the campaign. It was generally agreed that he had the most robust ground organization and most experienced campaign team. He also received by-far the largest share of endorsements from elected and party officials, with more public endorsements from former and current MPPs and MPs than the other five candidates combined. Coteau, with the longest tenure in the legislature and cabinet, pitched himself as the primary rival to Del Duca, and was generally viewed as the runner-up. Graham, a political newcomer who campaigned to “change how we do politics”, also put forward a competitive campaign with the endorsements of former Deputy Premier Deb Matthews and a number other prominent figures seen as close to Wynne.
Del Duca’s frontrunner status was cemented after the February 8-9, 2020 weekend, during which party members throughout the province voted at local leadership election meetings. Del Duca earned over 55% of the elected delegates, won the most votes in 89 of 124 ridings, and led delegate counts in all regions of the province. Coteau and Graham competed for distant second place, earning 18% and 13% of the delegate respectively. With strong second place showing in Southwestern Ontario, Graham actually led Coteau on delegate count after the first day of voting. Coteau re-gained second place by the end of the weekend, with stronger showing in Toronto and Eastern Ontario.
Despite the outcome of the leadership election being a virtual certainty leading up to the convention, about 3,000 people attended the two-day event, co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and interim leader John Fraser. On March 7, 2020, Del Duca was formally elected leader on the first ballot with 59% of the ballot cast.

Registered candidates

[Michael Coteau]

[Steven Del Duca]

Kate Graham

Brenda Hollingsworth

[Mitzie Hunter]

Alvin Tedjo

Declined

Local Voting

All members of the Ontario Liberal Party as of December 2, 2019 were eligible to cast a two-part ballot at one of the "Leadership Election Meetings" held across the province. Members vote directly for their choice of leadership candidate in the top part of the ballot, and for local delegates in the bottom part of the ballot. Elected delegates were apportioned to leadership candidates based on their share of votes in the top part of the ballot, and are bounded to vote for their leadership candidates on the first ballot at the March 6 convention. The small number of independent delegates elected can vote for whomever they chose at the convention.
The meetings were held over the weekend of February 8-9, 2020 in 119 electoral districts, and in twelve Ontario Young Liberal campus clubs and four Ontario Women's Liberal Clubs. There were a total of 2,084 delegates spots up for election from Ontario's 124 electoral districts, twelve campus clubs and four women's clubs.
The local results were as follow.
CandidateDelegates Earned%
Steven Del Duca1,17256.24%
Michael Coteau37017.75%
Kate Graham27313.10%
Mitzie Hunter1306.24%
Alvin Tedjo723.45%
Brenda Hollingsworth251.20%
Independent422.02%
Total2084100.00%

Result by Electoral Districts/Clubs
TorontoCoteauDel DucaGrahamHollingsworthHunterTedjoIndependentTotal
Total12717240038167400
Toronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & YorkToronto & York
Beaches—East York 843010016
Davenport 455011016
Eglinton—Lawrence354021116
Parkdale—High Park 544021016
Spadina—Fort York 462012116
Toronto Centre 753010016
Toronto—Danforth 672001016
Toronto—St. Paul's 742021016
University—Rosedale 643011116
North YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth YorkNorth York
Don Valley East1141000016
Don Valley North672000116
Don Valley West582001016
Humber River—Black Creek2130010016
Willowdale842011016
York Centre2111011016
York South—Weston0131011016
ScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarboroughScarborough
Scarborough—Agincourt490021016
Scarborough Centre970000016
Scarborough—Guildwood3100120016
Scarborough North380021216
Scarborough—Rouge Park851020016
Scarborough Southwest870010016
EtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicokeEtobicoke
Etobicoke Centre 3100021016
Etobicoke—Lakeshore 462021116
Etobicoke North 1150000016

Southwestern OntarioCoteauDel DucaGrahamHollingsworthHunterTedjoIndependentTotal
Total3317211221599352
Kitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-WaterlooKitchener-Waterloo
Cambridge1113010016
Guelph1123000016
Kitchener Centre184110116
Kitchener—Conestoga249001016
Kitchener South—Hespeler492001016
Waterloo176001116
Wellington—Halton Hills562110116
LondonLondonLondonLondonLondonLondonLondonLondonLondon
Elgin—Middlesex—London267001016
London—Fanshawe069010016
London North Centre1213000016
London West0213001016
Windsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-EssexWindsor-Essex
Chatham-Kent—Leamington168000116
Essex0141001016
Windsor—Tecumseh1141000016
Windsor West1132000016
Rural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural SouthwestRural Southwest
Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound374011016
Dufferin—Caledon1131001016
Huron—Bruce367000016
Lambton—Kent—Middlesex228000416
Oxford174031016
Perth—Wellington163060016
Sarnia—Lambton1112010116

Northern OntarioCoteauDel DucaGrahamHollingsworthHunterTedjoIndependentTotal
Total231412142852224
Northern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern OntarioNorthern Ontario
Algoma—Manitoulin4100020016
Kenora—Rainy River062062016
Nickel Belt4120000016
Nipissing2120200016
Parry Sound—Muskoka339000116
Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke0102021116
Sault Ste. Marie1121020016
Sudbury1112101016
Thunder Bay—Atikokan574000016
Thunder Bay—Superior North1121101016
Timiskaming—Cochrane2140000016
Timmins080080016
Kiiwetinoong080080016
Mushkegowuk—James Bay0160000016

Convention

The delegated leadership convention was held on March 6 and 7, 2020 at the International Centre in Mississauga. In addition to the 2000 plus pleaded delegates elected, approximately 530 ex-officio delegates were eligible to vote at the convention by virtue of party and elected offices they have held, such as sitting and former Liberal MPPs, recent provincial Liberal candidates, sitting federal Liberal MPs, and various party officials and representatives of party bodies.
Steven Del Duca was elected leader on the first ballot with 59% of the ballot cast.

CandidateDelegate ElectedDelegate ElectedFirst ballotFirst ballot
Steven Del Duca1,17256.2%1,25858.8%
Michael Coteau37017.8%36316.9%
Kate Graham27313.1%29913.9%
Mitzie Hunter1306.2%1225.7%
Alvin Tedjo723.4%743.5%
Brenda Hollingsworth251.2%241.1%
Independent422.0%
Total20842140

There was one spoiled ballot.