Ontario NDP Leadership V: The Convention Edition
March 6, 2009 - 3:19pm
I don't know if this is a bad omen but when I try to go to the NDP Convention website at http://convention.ondp.ca/ I get a message that says "Fatal Error"
Anyway, the last all candidates debate is on tonight (canadidate speeches are tomorrow afternoon immediately preceding the first ballot). Is the debate actually being broadcast on CP24 or CPAC or anywhere else? Will it be online?
It'll be live on the website, assuming that the site is up by then.
You guys in the NDP can't catch a break. The media all week-end will be about whose going to replace John Tory and the convention will get lost.
I'm wondering if Tory's sudden disappearance from the scene will impact the NDP leadership vote. One thing Tory did was reduce the argument for strategic voting however with one of any number of right wing loonies likely to replace him the NDP will need a leader who can convince people to vote NDP despite fear of the Tories.
The site works for me now.
Yes, it works for me too now.
So according to the agenda resolution(s) on the school funding issue should be on the floor around now. Is anyone live blogging from the convention?
http://ndprace09.wordpress.com/ for live blogging
It'll fail of course. Not because most NDPers can justify separate school funding on principled grounds, but because of the (mistaken) belief that it'll "cost us votes" and "there are more pressing issues."
The live streaming is actually working
http://convention.ondp.ca/live
I don't think the debate is going to have much of an impact outside the hall though since only 29 people are watching the stream.
Questions will be asked by Susana Kelly, former Queen's Park bureau chief for TVO and Linda Leatherdale, ex-business editor for the Toronto Sun.
Opening Statements:
Prue starts in French. 45 people are watching the livestream now.
Prue talks about his origins in Regent Park - NDP needs to redevelop itself and return to its roots.
People have told Prue they need an activist government that will bring change.
Times are difficult. Party needs to change so it matters.
Experienced leadership, electable leadership needed - need to be fit to govern.
NDP needs to win 54 seats.
Prue has been leader in the union movement, a mayor, 21 years experience, 8 elections, winning where NDPers don't usually win. He's electable and he had a plan for the economy - giving regions and towns more power to grow.
work with auto sector to keep jobs.
keep steel plants open.
regional transit.
we need to reform the party. you can choose the same old or go for where we need to go. we can have experienced leadership and a leader who is electable everywhere. Prue has those skills.
we can make a difference. we can win seats we've never won before and that can give the NDP results we've never had before and put us in government.
eliminate poverty, create jobs.
thank you
Up to 53 viewers.
Tabuns opening statement.
Good evening friends... comments in French.
We need to change the NDP so we can get our message out, so it's more professional and modern and show that we're ready for the 21st century.
Talks about closing of steel mill and other layoffs around ontario.
revenue sharing for ridings isn't what people of ontario are talking about.
let's focus on solving problems of the economy. people are worried about the future.
people want action. we can't be afraid to regulate.
green jobs and green business.
bigger wind industry to create more demand for steel, cut emissions, put people to work.
new energy economy.
some people say I'm a 1 issue candidate but new energy economy will protect and create jobs.
last century we fought for medicare and social justice. they're here because we fought for them riding by riding.
in 21st century acting on jobs means acting on climate. more and more people get this.
seize the moment and prepare to build a just, sustainable, prosperous society.
Bisson.
Welcome to Hamilton.
Introduces his family.
I'm from Timmins where I grew up and went to school My parents were small business people and I worked in the mines. I was a member of USWA and worked for them and negotiated for the union.
My experience in gold mines, when thousands of workers were dying from lung cancer, led me to run for office. I worked to get lung cancer recognized as an industrial disease and got workers millions in benefits.
employers were forced to clean up the workplace as a result.
my work in the local taught me that we needed to be government to get things done because you can't be outside looking in. The other parties don't have our interests at heart. They are incrementalists. I want us to be government.
[French]
Some people say if we have better polices we'll win. Aren't we the party of policy and Douglas? It's not the ideas, it's how we organize ourselves. I propose we restructure the party to give local ridings the incentive to organize and fundraise.
We need a strong central party that has the finances needed but if the locals don't have that too it's for naught.
I udnerstand this province, I have the most experience.
Horwath.
Starts in French (57 viewers now)
Our party is at a crossroads and this campaign is our chance to rebrand our party and blaze a new path. we can make ontario work again but to do it we must win.
what i love about our party is that when someone tells us something's impossible we do it anyway.
the liberals and tories said universal health care was impossible, did we back off? No. we ignore them, we organize and we make it happen.
people are worried about the economy. (mentions US Steel and other examples) we don't know how bad it'll get but we know as New Democrats we can advance a vision based on social democratic principles.
if we try to save our jobs by cutting wages, benefits, rolling back gains, we won't have good jobs anymore.
it's time to stand with working people and fight for good jobs.
not good enought to say we'll transition into a green economy. we need to stand with workers and fight to keep their gains. we must invest in good jobs, quality of life, and make sure ontario works for the workers and families that live here.
it's time to make every job a good job in this province and we can do that by operning up opportunities for unionization - card based unionization, getting rid of scabs, treat casual, temp and other workers like real workers in this province. it's time to make environmentalism affordable and to prepare ourselves to win by strengthening riding associations, bring in immigrant and refugee communities. just, progressive province. i'm the woman to do it.
Q1: you had a vigorous debate this afternoon on education funding but none of the four candidates spoke in the debate. the issue that defined the last election and led to the resignation of John Tory today was the idea that public funding be extended to religious schools and people were shocked that Tory raised the "third rail" of Ontario politics. What is your position on public funding for religious schools including Catholic schools.
Tabuns: people feel deeply about this issue. principled issue. we're facing challenges to our way of life, economy, environment. question for us is where do we focus our efforts and what do people want. Jobs, the environment, the economy. If we ignore the pressing issues of the time and get caught up in a divisive issue we will make a mistake. I believe we need continued public funding for separate and public schools -it's an old compromise. to refight the last election will only help the Liberals. I wouldn't change funding except to put more money in our schools.
Prue: I was at the mic but didn't have the chance to speak. i would have said we can't be afraid to talk about tough issues. convention decided to set up a task force and it's taken four conventions. we are in violation of UN. We have declining enrolments and not enough money. Task force needs to look at this.
Horwath: We have to get away from politics of division. we need to look at fully funded childcare, univesity tuition...
Bisson: I won't extend funding to religious schools. I won't eliminate Catholic boards. We fought amalgamating municipalities and we were right so why amalgamate school boards. there are bigger issues.
No, I'll just continue the discriminatory status quo. I'm against funding religious schools - except Catholic ones.
What a pathetic display by Bisson, Horwath and Tabuns.
Sorry, I'm a bit too tired to keep on doing this.
So far no surprises, all the candidates are basically saying what they said before. Bisson took a bit of a go at Tabuns by saying that the NDP's problem wasn't with not having good enough policies and Horwath to a bit of a go at him as well by saying it's not "good enough" to say we can transition to a green economy and Tabuns argued that he's not a one issue candidate because the new energy economy deals with a lot of issues. Other than that nothing really new.
I think Tabuns and Bisson were slightly better in their opening comments just from an oratorical standpoint but not enough to crush Prue and Horwath.
Linda Leatherdale just tried to plug her website - and she was roundly booed. I don't know who is winning the debate but I think Leatherdale lost.
I think Bisson is probably the strongest debater, followed by Tabuns, though no one is doing badly.
70 viewers as the debate ends. If this debate has any impact amongst voters at large then it'll be through the papers tomorrow.
25% of party members voted in the advance polls as of yesterday.
Tabuns is trying to deflect Prue and Bisson's emphasis on internal party reform by saying the NDP will win not by focussing on internal matters but by addressing issues people care about.
Thanks for those posts aka Mycroft.
There's a better summary of the final debate here.
Advance polling has closed. Online voting resumes at 3:15 pm, Saturday, but will occur ballot by ballot (ie no preferential ballot).
Various news reports say the party "expects" a leader to be announced at 6 pm which means the party brass are expecting it to be a two ballot affair.
Saying a leader will be known by 6 p.m. is another way of the party staff telling the reporters that the decision will be ready for the 6 o'clock news and tying to get a chunk of the programming. I think this race is pretty much decided as most of the votes were cast before convention. We could be looking at a one ballot affair.
Thanks for the play-by-play, Mycroft. Enlightening for those of us who didn't get to watch it live.
So what I hear two of the four candidates saying is, yes, we are in favour of religious discrimination. I hear a third candidate saying, I don't have time to bother with this stupid little issue that you find important, here are the issues I think are important. And I hear a fourth candidate saying, religious discrimination IS important and while it's a difficult issue because of the history behind it, it's one we have to face and address.
That fourth candidate sounds pretty savvy to me.
Meanwhile, the "fourth" candidate still wont actually take a position on so-called religious discrimination.
Scott Piatkowski was elected male VP this morning. I understand there is another election this afternoon.
I'm told Bisson raised the most money followed by Tabuns, Horwath and Prue.
Live streaming at http://convention.ondp.ca/live
135 viewers are watching an emply podium.
I'm told Horwath will speak first followed by Prue, Tabuns and Bisson.
Actually the speaking order is Bisson, Prue, Tabuns Horwath
Yeah, but at least he recognized that Ontario is in violation of the UN (which sounds to me like he's recognizing the religious discrimination) and he is open to discussing it. The other candidates have taken a position - they're in favour of religious discrimination.
To me, that's worse than recognizing it and working towards change.
Congratulations, Scott! A few more principled people like Scott in positions of power in the ONDP, and heck, things just might change for the better!
Bisson is being nominated by France Gelinas and by a spokesperson for UFCW Canada. Third nominator is an activist for an anti-homelessness group - missed her name, but she's emphasizing that Bisson has raised the most money of any of the candidates (and thus can raise money for the party) and that the's the only NDP MPP to have increased his share of the vote in 1995.
Video presentation (pretty slick) of Bisson at various demonstrations and meetings and news clippings.
Charlie Angus, MP, speaking now saying Bisson built the NDP in the north and suggesting he's largely responsible for the NDP winning 7 of 9 northern Ontario federally. Angus introduces Bisson.
Bisson: Thanks his nominators. Namechecks the Steelworkers (who are heavily represented at convention). Argues that there's nothing wrong with having a second leader from northern Ontario - mentions northern MPPs and MPs who have been elected. "What's wrong with northern Ontario? It's a question not of where the leader comes from but what he has to offer."
Talks about lessons of Rae government. Praises NDP government's accomplishments, keeping plants open that were threatened with closure - saved jobs. "We passed anti-scab legislation... we need to aim for government".
How do we get there? Must move from politics of opposition to politics of proposition. Propose what needs to be done around economy, environment and crime.
We need to make needed changes to the party. We're $4 million in debt and need to pay it off so we can have the money we need to win. We need revenue sharing with the riding associations so they can run full campaigns across the province.
We're social democrats and understand this needs to be done together. Revenue sharing should only apply to new members, not to existing funds, so as not to starve the centre.
I can put a team made up of people from all the leadership camps.
We sold more memberships than any other leadership campaign. We've raised the most amount of money of any campaign. I have the experience, the passion, the drive, the leadership ability to get the job done. We start by taking Hamilton and then we take Queen's Park.
Heh. Just taking a peek at the live streaming, and I see that the video hosting service puts automatic ads into the stream. "I couldn't find a job. Now I make my own money from home you can too!" "Private CT scan in Montreal. Rapid appointments and reporting..."
Oh boy, I'll bet they'll hear about that. :D I know from experience at rabble that it doesn't matter how many times you tell some people that ads are automatically generated, they'll still freak out about them. Remember the google ads we used to have on babble, and the way the keywords in the feminism forum would generate anti-choice google ads?
I'll bet anything that ads for private, for-profit medical services, and scam "job ads" will create a similar reaction here. I feel bad for whomever has to field those complaints!
195 people are watching online. Does anyone know if the speeches are being carried on any of the news channels?
253 people are watching online.
Prue
Video presentation - shots of Regent Park with voiceover by Prue on growing up in a poor neighbourhood and the importance of making sure children have opportunity.
Talks about his success as mayor of East York, building community centres and daycare, paying down the debt without raising taxes.
I'm a consensus builder and have a plan involving the cities and towns of the province that will bring economic prosperity.
I've won 8 elections in a row including in places such as Leaside where New Dems haven't won before.
Have travelled the length and breadth of this province. I can represent all of the people of this great province and I will do so as Premier.
(Video ends)
Music and light show -
Prue comes to podium
Begins in French, not as loudly as Bisson.
It's taken me a lifetime to get here from Regent Park.
Tumultuous times for our province and party.
70 percent share our values but only 15 percent vote for us because they don't think we can win or manage the economy. But if we make the right choices we can matter again. If I'm leader we'll regain confidence, I will rejuvenate the party and make it into one that will win.
Separate out the rhetoric from the substance being presented.
3 qualifications needed - 1 proven leadership in governing. 2 Ability to attract support from a broad range of people. 3 Comprehensive and believable economic plan.
leader needs to know from experience what to do now. can't wait for someone to grow into the job (jab at Horwath?)
I won every poll as mayor of East York at a time when provincial NDP government deeply unpopular because a broad range of people were impressed by me. I filled vacant factories, had 5 balanced budgets, paid down the debt and never raised taxes. Built daycare and community centres.
Times demanded a leader of action with an economic plan and I did it with the rest of council, not one of whom was an NDPer.
We have that opportunity again today. I have a comprehensive economic plan.
1) direct investment that will accelerate recovery
2) Buy Ontario plan
3) Cities power region plans that will make us more competitive.
The past few days have been devestating to working families in Niagara and Windsor. I watched reaction of Steelworkers as they stared at prospect of lost jobs and crushed hopes. they are looking for answers and solutions and we can provide them.
It's essential that provincial governemnt play a role in critical industries. my plan recognizes the enormity of the task. we will provide the money but we demand shares in the companies, seats on the board of directors to protect jobs and direct recovery and significant role for unions.
Buy Ontario plan gives option to councils to award contracts to local suppliers provided the bid is within 10% of lowest tender. We must give this opportunity to Municipalities, Universities, Hospitals. Does not violate trade agreements.
We will give cities and towns tools and resources to build their own success. Eliminate OMB to restore municipal control of planning. give larger cities same powers as City of Toronto. Alternative to property tax is needed. These changes will give cities ability to build infrastructure - give Windsor option to build tunnel instead of highway. Give Toronto ability to build light transit and Thunder Bay ability to build new facilities for wood products.
Every town and city will be free to make strategic decisions to foster growth in target economic sectors.
This will generate tax base needed to do what we've dreamt with, eliminated economy, greening society, relief to students and justice for first nations.
Coming from Regent Park and being a proud trade unionist i've always dreamt of eliminating poverty. End clawback against the disabled. someone born with Down's syndrome is not given a fair shake in life, but Ontario claws back half of everything they earn. that's a disgrace. I will end that practice and allow people on ODSP to keep first $8,000 they earn so they can be above the poverty line.
Must shift to greener healthier province. I worked with Sheila Basra. We forged first anti smoking bylaw. we established the Toronto anti-smoking bylaw that was later adopted by the province. we were the first to ban pesticides. we stopped Toronto from dumping its garbage in Adams Mine. I will continue that fight as leader and as Premier i will stop construction of energy plants not being built with smart tech to reduce carbon emissions. will encourage use of biomass and create a renewable energy institute to develop new tech. i will give all municipalities the tools to go green and i will give assistance to homeowners to retrofit homes for alternative power.
to do this we need to win. Beginning tomorrow i will lead a 10 person caucus but i want our party to regain our confidence and allow us to form the next government. i have a detailed plan to revitalize party.
we must learn from Obama's 50 state strategy. we must not cede any ridings to other parties and run strong campaigns in all 107 ridings. we spent $4 million in last campaign but I want to ensure each riding has $10K so they can run strong campaigns. we can't just run in 20 0r 30 ridings and win 10, we have to run strong campaigns in every riding.
we need to change the funding formula. even in my riding we have no money in our treasury to do ordinary things like sponsor a kids baseball team or participate in local parades. if that's happening in beaches it's happening across the province and we need to change that. the current revenue formula is a disincentive to fundraising.
We need to bring in new faces. I will increase grant to ONDY and provide seed money for each campus club. we need an internship program for youth to bring the best and brightest to queen's park and party hq.
i will convince new canadians to join NDP, will reach out to their leaders.
I will bring unions like the CAW back into the NDP and unions that have never affiliated into the party.
I have experience in leading a government, managing an economy, attracting business and creating jobs. I couldn't have done that without the ability to attract votes from all places and classes.
If I could do that in east york i can do that across the province in 2011.
you have a choice - change that can bring results. i'm the only candidate with proven governmetn experience. i have run an economy during a recession without losing jobs. I am the candidate for poverty reduction and green energy. I have convinced non NDPers to vote for me in the past. I can revitalize the party and I'm the only candidate with a concrete plan to transform the party.
with your vote we can have results that we've never had before.
Hm, CP 24 is covering the Gardiner expressway. With only 264 people watching the livestream and apparently no live tv coverage the speeches are not going to have an impact on people voting from home.
Cheri DiNovo introduces Tabuns, mentioned "democratic socialism" in her review of party history. Tabuns represents the best of the NDP's traditition. he has an industrial economic vision, zeal for a prosperous province, represents new direction and our founding values, feminist, unionist, environmentalist, democratic socialist Peter Tabuns.
Ravi Joshi: I support Tabuns because he has the best grasp of the solutions we need. Passionate and hardworking. Inspiring.
Emily Watkins: Peter has passion and energy that I admiare. Connects the jobs of tomorrow with the fight against climate change, he's an infatigable candidate. he's travelled throughout Ontario for the party. Energy and ideas. I am proud to nominate Peter Tabuns.
Irene Mathysson: I want an engaging, forward looking person, ahead of the curve, someone who believes in communities and building good teams. Party needs change and Ontarians want change.
Ontario VP of CEP: Our members need a leader who understands and believes in the importance of unions and workers rights. a leader who knows how important good wages are to workers and their families. someone who understands that this province must invest in good jobs and work hard to keep them here. Peter Tabuns is a friend of workers with a long track record. I've seen the new energy economy work and we need to see more of it in Ontario. CEP members and workers from across Ontario know we need a new economic vision, one that breaks down old walls and builds new bridges. Peter has that vision and a plan to make it reality. We can save good jobs and create new ones with the new energy economy. I ask you to join me in supporting today's leader and tomorrow's premier, peter tabuns.
[video]
Tabuns: In these past few months i've visited communities across this province and spoken to many people and something links us [namechecks cities] something moves us whether it's auto workers in windsor who want green jobs or steel workers who want wind turbines. something inspires us.
I grew up in Hamilton, I watched my parents, immigrants, struggle to build new lives in this country.
We need change - Stelco closing - we can't stay with the status quo but need to change and show people that the progressive party they need is here in this room today.
we have to show that we get it, not that we talk about the need to get it but that we show that we get it. i ask for the priviledge to rebuild, reshape and renew our party.
there's a clamour to get serious about the century ahead. if we need any proof of why think about the changes in this province since the leadership campaign began. soaring energy prices, then stock market collapse and this week hamilton, windsor, sudbury hammered by layoffs. we're losing jobs across the province all with a backdrop of an environmental challenge.
ontario is staring a rust belt future in the face. if we don't rise to the challenge with a leader who is ready our future is at risk. should we talk about internal structures? That won't cut it in a province with a job crisis. or will we just claim we're ready to govern? That won't cut it in a province facing a crisis. Ontarians are ready to connect crises with solutions. they know the price of handsoff government because they live it and they know ontario is behind the global path. denmark, germany are leading in renewable energy. Michigan is helping auto plants diversify, california is builidng the world's largest solar plant. it's the new energy economy embraced by governments who see what's coming. But you can look in Ontario and you can barely find it because the new energy econony is passing us by. We need to build jobs tomorrow by acting on environment today. in the twilight years of casino capitalism government has a role to play making good change occur and regulating against dangers. it takes more than saying we want to govern. to change our party and province for the better we need to be ready to go starting tomorrow.
looking forward, not back, to the challenges of tomorrow not rhetoric of yesterday. we can't pit north vs south, environmentalists vs workers. i reject the notion that if you support workers you oppose environmental progress. the best thing for construction workers is retrofitting homes across the province. I want cities to have public transit and those transit vehicles to be built in thunder bay. i want greener cares made in oshawa, brampton, oakville and windsor with tech from waterloo and ottawa.
i want cities to use more wind energy produced in urban, rural and northern ontario using steel made in ontario.
we don't need to pit regions or intersts against each other. we need to work for equity and fairness and acknowledge that we're in here together. the days of cobbling together enough seats for official party status need to end. these ideas don't cost much, they don't end the partnerships that fought to increase the minimum wage, they build new alliances.
with the need for smart governemnt so clear we shouldn't settle for the empty words and timid actions of Dalton McGuinty who fought increasing the minimum wage and gave money to GM to move their truckline to Mexico.
Now is the time for us in this party to force mcguinty to deliver by creating more jobs, cutting emissions and helping resource sector flourish.
let's have an election on how to create new jobs while cutting emissions, on helping working families, on putting people to work building a hydro system for the 21st century. let's start that debate with a new ndp with better communications and organizations. a party that gets out of queen's park and into the communities and which invites ontarians to join with solutions they see work.
in 3o years i've seen it work by bringing construction workers into energy efficiency projects. i've seen it work at city hall where we protected health and safety by banning smoking at work places. i've seen it at greenpeace where we and the caw pushed for green cars years ago. i've seen it at queen's park with the fight to raise the minimum wage.
you are eager to put solutions into actions. i've seen you in your homes, in church basements, you're not throwing in the towel. you're filled with the same energy as me. you want a province that accepts the need to catch up with a changing world. today is the day to choose, do we move forward or do we take a bigger risk and look backward and inward. I choose to move forward and today i ask for your support as leader so we can move forward together.
Cheri DiNovo introduces Tabuns, mentioned "democratic socialism" in her review of party history. Tabuns represents the best of the NDP's traditition. he has an industrial economic vision, zeal for a prosperous province, represents new direction and our founding values, feminist, unionist, environmentalist, democratic socialist Peter Tabuns.
Ravi Joshi: I support Tabuns because he has the best grasp of the solutions we need. Passionate and hardworking. Inspiring.
Emily Watkins: Peter has passion and energy that I admiare. Connects the jobs of tomorrow with the fight against climate change, he's an infatigable candidate. he's travelled throughout Ontario for the party. Energy and ideas. I am proud to nominate Peter Tabuns.
Irene Mathysson: I want an engaging, forward looking person, ahead of the curve, someone who believes in communities and building good teams. Party needs change and Ontarians want change.
Ontario VP of CEP: Our members need a leader who understands and believes in the importance of unions and workers rights. a leader who knows how important good wages are to workers and their families. someone who understands that this province must invest in good jobs and work hard to keep them here. Peter Tabuns is a friend of workers with a long track record. I've seen the new energy economy work and we need to see more of it in Ontario. CEP members and workers from across Ontario know we need a new economic vision, one that breaks down old walls and builds new bridges. Peter has that vision and a plan to make it reality. We can save good jobs and create new ones with the new energy economy. I ask you to join me in supporting today's leader and tomorrow's premier, peter tabuns.
[video]
Tabuns: In these past few months i've visited communities across this province and spoken to many people and something links us [namechecks cities] something moves us whether it's auto workers in windsor who want green jobs or steel workers who want wind turbines. something inspires us.
I grew up in Hamilton, I watched my parents, immigrants, struggle to build new lives in this country.
We need change - Stelco closing - we can't stay with the status quo but need to change and show people that the progressive party they need is here in this room today.
we have to show that we get it, not that we talk about the need to get it but that we show that we get it. i ask for the priviledge to rebuild, reshape and renew our party.
there's a clamour to get serious about the century ahead. if we need any proof of why think about the changes in this province since the leadership campaign began. soaring energy prices, then stock market collapse and this week hamilton, windsor, sudbury hammered by layoffs. we're losing jobs across the province all with a backdrop of an environmental challenge.
ontario is staring a rust belt future in the face. if we don't rise to the challenge with a leader who is ready our future is at risk. should we talk about internal structures? That won't cut it in a province with a job crisis. or will we just claim we're ready to govern? That won't cut it in a province facing a crisis. Ontarians are ready to connect crises with solutions. they know the price of handsoff government because they live it and they know ontario is behind the global path. denmark, germany are leading in renewable energy. Michigan is helping auto plants diversify, california is builidng the world's largest solar plant. it's the new energy economy embraced by governments who see what's coming. But you can look in Ontario and you can barely find it because the new energy econony is passing us by. We need to build jobs tomorrow by acting on environment today. in the twilight years of casino capitalism government has a role to play making good change occur and regulating against dangers. it takes more than saying we want to govern. to change our party and province for the better we need to be ready to go starting tomorrow.
looking forward, not back, to the challenges of tomorrow not rhetoric of yesterday. we can't pit north vs south, environmentalists vs workers. i reject the notion that if you support workers you oppose environmental progress. the best thing for construction workers is retrofitting homes across the province. I want cities to have public transit and those transit vehicles to be built in thunder bay. i want greener cares made in oshawa, brampton, oakville and windsor with tech from waterloo and ottawa.
i want cities to use more wind energy produced in urban, rural and northern ontario using steel made in ontario.
we don't need to pit regions or intersts against each other. we need to work for equity and fairness and acknowledge that we're in here together. the days of cobbling together enough seats for official party status need to end. these ideas don't cost much, they don't end the partnerships that fought to increase the minimum wage, they build new alliances.
with the need for smart governemnt so clear we shouldn't settle for the empty words and timid actions of Dalton McGuinty who fought increasing the minimum wage and gave money to GM to move their truckline to Mexico.
Now is the time for us in this party to force mcguinty to deliver by creating more jobs, cutting emissions and helping resource sector flourish.
let's have an election on how to create new jobs while cutting emissions, on helping working families, on putting people to work building a hydro system for the 21st century. let's start that debate with a new ndp with better communications and organizations. a party that gets out of queen's park and into the communities and which invites ontarians to join with solutions they see work.
in 3o years i've seen it work by bringing construction workers into energy efficiency projects. i've seen it work at city hall where we protected health and safety by banning smoking at work places. i've seen it at greenpeace where we and the caw pushed for green cars years ago. i've seen it at queen's park with the fight to raise the minimum wage.
you are eager to put solutions into actions. i've seen you in your homes, in church basements, you're not throwing in the towel. you're filled with the same energy as me. you want a province that accepts the need to catch up with a changing world. today is the day to choose, do we move forward or do we take a bigger risk and look backward and inward. I choose to move forward and today i ask for your support as leader so we can move forward together.
Marie Kelly from Steel nominates Horwath. Andrea understands how important it is to stand up for working people and keep good jobs in Ontario. Now more than ever we need a strong leader who can protect the interests of working people and the right to join a union, who will pass anti-scab laws, cares about working people. It's time for Andrea.
Tyler Downie of SEIU seconds nomination. This will be the most important decision we make as NDPers. we must take community organizing to a new level, engage young people, communities. it takes a commitment to on the ground organizing and andrea can engage and bring people together. we don't need another politician, we need an organizer.
Chris Charlton, MP: I've known Andrea for 20 years, we've been on picket lines together, fought for housing, pensions... she has enthusiaism to get the job done. she was cochair of hamilton days of action and succeeded in bringing 50,000 workers out. succeeded in getting on city council and in the legislature. now is the time.
Kormos introduces Horwath [sorry I lost my notes of what he said due to a technical glitch]
[video]
[drum band walks Horwath in]
Horwath: thank you so much. There is no other place i would rather be than right here with you because i believe the people in this room hold the seed for ontario's future. great change started in rooms like this. people like you decided that every child deserves an education... this room is filled with real people who work in hospitals, day care centres, factories... we are students, retirees... but we all came here because we are committed to change. we may not be rich but we are powerful. we believe in building a better world. you can knock us down, ignore us, write our political obituaries but we are the people who will keep on going. knock us down and we will get up again because we are new democrats. like every ontarian we are experiencing change. a week ago the steel mills in the skyline represented work. now they represent people out of work, an economy ripped apart by neo-liberalism. an economy with a gutted industrial base. those mills represent steel no longer made but also autos no longer made in windsor, a devestated forestry sector... when we look we see all of ontario. i was a caw brat. i went to university because my father had a good job. i would not be here today if it wasn't for my father's well paid union job. this economic and social crisis will effect everyone of us. when good jobs disappear how many children lose their future? when we lose child care how many families become working poor.
look at the difference a year has made. the middle class is disappearing and the working class is largely unemployed. we could accept this and adjust, that's what the other parties say, but adjust to what, growing unemployment lines and growing food bank lines, adjust to this growing . discrepency. adjust so that those who stole our money can get more of it? We refuse to adjust!
we'll invest in ourselves, our workplaces. it's our money we will demand an equity stake. it's our money. smart investments, targeted investments in products of the future. light rail. we'll build green cars. we will produce once again and we will buy our own products. we'll buy farm products grown in ontario.
we'll put light rail systems in our cities and invest in our work by making ontario a transit hub. we'll make every job a good job. we will make sure minimum wage is a living wage. we'll get rid of scab labour. we will make sure part time, casual and migrant workers are all treated like the real workers that they are and we will bring our workforce back to health. we will stop eating away at our public system. we will expand our public system. let's make child care and post secondary education fully public.
the neo liberal experiment has exploded. the invisible hand doesn't work. it never existed and we should not trust invisible hands to take care of us.
we won't adjust to the growing misery. we will change. we will think for ourselves and won't trust a few greedy individuals to take care of us.
i'm a community organizer and i trust people but it's not a blind trust. i've seen what people can accomplish together like the days of action. when i think about our climate crisis i do so with the mind of an organizer. people want a cleaner environment and i trust people will make the changes they need to make to get that. we must help them by making environementalism affordable with loans for [environmental retrofits]
we won't check our socialism at the door when it comes to building a better future. let's do for the environment what we did for health care 50 years ago. let's make environemtalism universal.
we owe people a real choice. we have to be ready to change ourselves. we have to set internal goals for our party that seem impossible. we must double our party membership by 2011. we must reflect ontario with more women, young people, diverse communities. we must work in communities like organizing by listening and working together on issues that are relevent. let's be truly representative as a party. put regional organizers on the ground. change the financial relationship between ridings and the parties. make ridings vibrant. i will spend half my time on the road to make us vibrant. it's time for us to believe in ourselves again. we can make this province a better, fairer place where the avg working woman gets the child care she needs and McGuinty gets the pink slip he deservces and that is what we owe the people in ontario in 2011.
things aren't working at queen's park. it's time for new voices, change. it's time for the NDP, in 2011 we will bring change to queen's park and i am the woman to do it.
11,150 people have voted in the advance poll. Just shy of 50% of the party membership has already voted which means the provincial leadership election has already met the overall turnout level of the last federal NDP leadership vote and beat the 40% turnout of the last Ontario PC leadership election.
Today's voting starts at 3:30, a bit behind schedule.
I have had a hard time deciding this one- I just voted online--
Just wanted to thank Mycroft for his play by play. I watched the debate last night online, but didn't have time for the speeches today.
Has any estimate been given as to when the first round results will be announced?
First Ballot prediction:
1 - Tabuns
2 - Horwath
3 - Bisson
4 - Prue
Final standings prediction:
1- Horwath
2- Tabuns
3- Bisson
4- Prue
They're running 15 minutes behind schedule so the first ballot results should be announced at 4:45.
Rowena Santos was elected female VP btw.
I think Horwath is going to win. I actually wouldn't be surprised if she's in first place on the first ballot though I think Tabuns has the better machine so he's still more likely to be on top.
538 people are now watching the livestream (waiting for the 1st ballot results).
BTW, the rabble.ca web poll has been featured in campaign lit handed out today.
How many people are at convention? Could it happen that as many people will watch the results online as there live?
Haven't posted in a while but I think aka Mycroft is correct. (Here's hoping...)
What were the results of the rabble poll?
haha, this live stream is entertaining. The chanting is intense.
Prue gone after first ballot, Bisson came third, too much shouting to figure out who finished first but I think it was Tabuns
total weighted vote and percent
Horwath 4625.29 votes, 37.1%
Tabuns 3437.93 votes, 27.6%
Bisson 2954.23 votes, 23.7%
Prue 1438.44 votes, 11.5%
Prue just went to Bisson
Horwath 37%
Tabuns 27%
Bisson 23%
Prue 11.5
Pretty much over- nobody is catching Andrea now
Thanks Mycroft. ETA: there were 580 streaming the first ballot results.
Labour vote (weighted to 25% of total)
Horwath 1375.89
Tabuns 846.79
Bisson 810.37
Prue 81.95
Membership vote (weighted to 75% of total)
Horwath 3250.40
Tabuns 2591.14
Bisson 2143.86
Prue 1356.49
I wouldn't say that Horwath definitely has this in the bag yet. We've all seen conventions where the first ballot winner actually didn't make it in the end, because the convention dynamics meant that the second or third place finisher on the first ballot eventually overtook them.
Be cautiously optimistic about Horwath's chances, certainly, but don't break out the party hats just yet.
The drawback to relying on webstreaming is that I actually missed the results announcement -- I'm checking back from time to time, but off doing other things instead of just sitting here slackjawed in front of the empty podium feed
I think Horwath will win for sure. If the final ballot is Bisson vs. Horwath - Tabuns supporters will prefer her en masse.
Labour vote (weighted to 25% of total)
Horwath 1375.89
Tabuns 846.79
Bisson 810.37
Prue 81.95
Membership vote (weighted to 75% of total)
Horwath 3250.40
Tabuns 2591.14
Bisson 2143.86
Prue 1356.49
I think it'll go to a third ballot. Very few people voted online today, virtually all the OMOV vote was in the advance poll which means ballot choices are locked in and there won't be much leakage from Bisson or Tabuns to Horwath. Prue's votes will be redistributed and even if all of them go to Horwath she's still short of 50%. The only way she can win on this ballot are a) if labour delegates who voted for Tabuns and Bisson abandon their candidates for Horwath or b) if thousands of people sitting at home who didn't vote in ballot one online decide to vote in ballot two.
Yala Yala! This is for the good of the party. Hard work pays off.
UFCW, which voted for Bisson on the first ballot, has gone over to Horwath for the second ballot. UFCW is about 8% of the labour vote or 2% of the overall vote.
Second ballot results
horwath 5259.06 votes - 43.6%
tabuns 3819.82 votes - 31.7 %
Bisson 2988.12 votes 24.8%
Like i said, i think Horwath has it in the bag. I can live with that.
Bisson has just endorsed Horwath.
I'm not sure why he even bothers - almost all the ballots have already been cast and its not as if the final outcome is in doubt. I wonder if tabuns might withdraw rather than even bother with a final count?
Which, I suppose, one couldn't say about Eves vs Flaherty, or Tory vs Flaherty, or whomever vs Iggy, etc. (i.e. there's a degree of civility, no "Stop xxx" movement, etc)
I guess I'll now take back what I said earlier. Tabuns now has to pick up fully 75 per cent of Bisson's support to overtake Horwath -- but I'd be very surprised if he could actually do that. Especially with Bisson now endorsing Horwath, I highly doubt that three-quarters of his supporters would go the other way.
I think Horwath is everyone's (everyone supporting other people) second choice anyways - so everyone can live with her as leader. I'm not so sure I would be so sanguine about Prue or Bisson being leader. But Horwath seems pretty inoffensive and i'm confident she can rise to the occasion.
PS: Its interesting that after Prue dropped off the ballot - Tabuns seems to have scooped up about half of his votes - so much for the theory that "everyone" supporting Prue would rank Tabuns last.
Congratulations, Scott! Really pleased about that.
The rest is a yawn.
It's highly unlikely Tabuns will win. However, he needs to go through the motions of having a final ballot in order to satisfy his loyal supporters and legitimize the democratic outcome of the race. It wouldn't look good if Horwath wins with 43.6% of the vote.
Well 6.6 went to Andrea out of Prue's 11.5, only 4.7 to Tabuns, so more than half of them supported Horwath over Tabuns.
Media here is joking that Bisson is the Queenmaker.
Though don't forget the Svend-Alexa deal in 1995...
"Well 6.6 went to Andrea out of Prue's 11.5, only 4.7 to Tabuns, so more than half of them supported Horwath over Tabuns."
4.7 is a lot more than the 0.0 that some people were predicting.
Results will be announced shortly at around 7:30.
http://convention.ondp.ca/live
Final result
Andrea Horwath 6732.34 (60.4%)
Peter Tabuns 4420.66 (39.6%)
Thanks very much again aka Mycroft, I really appreciated it and got a lot more out of the convention.
Yeah, Mycroft, thanks very much for that play-by-play today. Very interesting. Well, at least a woman won. And it's great that Scott is VP.
Woo hoo!
That is all for now.
Congrats Scott! Great job to all. I'm inspired. Too bad everyone's at the party but me.
I'm not at the party either, revolution
Cheers then!
And just because I can't stop laughing at this
Congrats Andrea...I'll hold back my criticisms of the ONDP for 24 hours.
Ye Haw
Back to the party!
So happy about today's events. I had to go to a charity event tonight so I only go to see the first ballot results which filled me with confidence that Andrea would win. Just got home and saw the final results.
Also, Andrea winning was the lead story on the Global News Final and Sean Mallin interviewed Andrea from the convention floor.
Andrea has been my choice for Howie's successor since shortly after she won her by-election and she has continued to impress me.
Nice to see numbers, but the drama today was all on the floor.
First, the Andrea show. I am only reporting what others say, since I was in the parade, but apparently it worked. The lights went down, the parade marched in with a drummer and a whole lot of people yelling and waving tiny flashlights around. Doesn't sound like much, a very low-cost gimmick, but apparently very impressive. Who thought up this show? The Toronto establishment were out-organized by someone.
Second, Andrea's speech. Tabuns forces dismissed it as only a pep rally. It was one hell of a good pep rally, but it was much more. She had a whole bunch of brand new dramatic lines. Sheila White is a master strategist, for saving all the best new lines for the final speech. Usually the pressure of a campaign makes you use new lines at once, not hold your fire until you see the whites of their ballots. I was hoping for a good speech. Instead we got an electrifying performance. A Prue delegate commented "If the vote was just on this floor, she'd win on the first ballot." Yes, she was that good.
Third, the first ballot. Most people thought it was to be too close to call between Tabuns and Horwath on the first ballot. Not close at all. How much was due to The Speech? I don't know.
Fourth, the final count: more than 60%. A convincing win.
Fifth, the entire feel of the event. "We've made history." "We've changed the face of Ontario politics." To say that the convention was energized is a massive understatement.
"I love the story line." "It's as good as if you scripted it." "We did."
The old establishment slunk away. "We're remaking the party. We're creating something quite new. They can't stand it. But they'd better get used to it."
Not much. Virtually all of the membership OMOV vote was cast in the advance polls before the speech and it seems that even a number of the labour delegates voted in the advance poll (I hadn't realized before that labour delegates had this option) so maybe 10 to 15% of the overall vote was cast after the speeches.
"The Toronto Establishment"? :D Let me guess, they're so powerful that they were responsible for Howard Hampton, too?
As for "changing the face of Ontario Politics", and "making history" - well, it's always exhilirating to get through a leadership campaign, and of course everyone's going to be hyped up afterwards, but that's a bit of an overstatement at this point. There's already been a female party leader in Ontario, so unless you're talking about changing ONDP history (which is fair enough), you really haven't changed anything - yet.
I'll reserve my judgement about whether she makes history or changes Ontario politics for when she actually performs well as leader. Hopefully she will, because something needs to change.
Congratulations to those who worked for Horwath or voted for her, including the new VP of the ONDP. ;) I hope she lives up to the hype. :)
P.S. Wilf, if your idea of "remaking the party" is shitting all over people from Toronto, then "get used to" alienating a huge base of NDP support in Ontario if your party is stupid enough to follow suit (which I think they won't be). As a Torontonian, I couldn't care less where the leader of any party comes from, and I liked Howard Hampton and thought he was a pretty good leader, way better than Toronto-based Bob Rae. I also think that the NDP has to build a much stronger base in a lot of ridings where they run non-existent campaigns every election, and those are usually rural or suburban ridings. But you're not going to get there by trashing Toronto and the concerns of a huge concentration of people who are sympathetic to your message.
Case in point: Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. (Seriously.)
Also, Sheila White is from Toronto (though I don't think she was the master strategist behind the campaign).
Andrea's got a lot of challenges ahead of her and I think one of the bigger ones will be convincing the people who went with other candidates - particularly Tabuns - that they have a place. This won't be easy and I worry some of her "allies" would rather be sore winners than build unity.
That said, it's always a challenge for a new Leader and I think she's up for it.
She just needs to realize that people who aren't willing to help her mend fences aren't her allies - even if they supported her.
I don't think she will have much trouble unifying the party. I never got the impression that there was much hostility towards her by anyone. From what I've heard - to the extent that there was any "bad blood' it was between a coterie of people in the Tabuns and Prue camps - and they both lost.
It will be interesting to see if the Tabuns campaign leadership is brought back onside, or if they'll be content - as we've seen often happen with the federal Liberals - to sit it out on the sidelines and plot to bring down the new leader.
I hope they're brought onside and willing to be brought onside. Tabuns is a hard worker and a decent and earnest guy and a real asset for the party.
"I hope they're brought onside and willing to be brought onside"
one would think, given the critical situation in ecology and economy, that there would be no question about 'all hands on deck' at this point.
Congrats to Scott P and to the wonderful Rowena Santos!
congrats indeed scott p. and rowena too, and to andrea.
andrea's team ran an incredibly good and disciplined game plan. i think there's a probably a lot of goodwill, and probably a fair bit of ill will. if everyone gets a little time to decompress, i think they'll all see the good and the bad.
I think the goodwill is probably going to prevail.
I was giving the flavour of the convention floor drama. Dozens of people made comments like that right after she won. Overstatements? Hey, on that floor at that point I bet a majority of delegates would have given you odds that she'll be premier in 2011. Optimists? We're talking about a lot of hard-nosed people like Hamilton steelworkers, who are desperately trying to save their community and their livelihoods. They don't see any way to do it except by electing Andrea Horwath. That kind of determination and desperation should not be underestimated. One of the first lines in her speech yesterday was "We aren't rich, but we are powerful." People power. She means it. So did the hundreds of delegates who gave that line a standing ovation.
Not that I could detect on the floor. A tiny handful of sore losers, and even they were saying "I hope she grows into it." A line that had no legs. With a solid margin like 60.4%, there's not much room for ill will. It was quite obvious that almost everyone was 110% excited, enthusiastic, and ready to roll.
Good point. I'd forgotten they lost in the last race too. But Howard Hampton wasn't exactly the candidate of change. Andrea is.
Excellent play-by-play Mycroft. It was good to relive it and, in some cases, find out about it for the first time (I actually missed some of what happened because I was busy on the leadership campaign and my own campaign).
Re. Kormos' comments in nominating Andrea. He said: "I know Andrea Horwath. She's smart, tough and hard working. When Andrea talks, people listen. But, more importantly, when people talk, Andrea listens." Certainly one of the better lines of the convention.
It's true to say that the convention didn't change the outcome, but I still think that it was important (in fact, quite a few convention-goers who had voted in advance were wishing that they could change their vote). I was a bit surprised at how little attention the other teams were playing to winning people over who were in attendance. None of the other campaigns had a campaign newsletter. And, on another battlefront, Prue was the only candidate to update members of his Facebook community during convention (and only once... when he endorsed Bisson).
I think it was important that Andrea's margin of victory was so convincing, and that she won a clear majority of both the individual member vote and the labour vote.
I don't think Wilf's comment had to do with geography, but about traditional power bases within the party. There were certainly a few people disappointed with the result, but most of the Tabuns supporters that I spoke to were quite happy with the idea of Andrea as leader.
There are a tremendous number of new voices at the Executive table, many of them young. It's going to be interesting. Thanks for the congrats on my election as VP, everyone. It's going to be a lot of work, of course, but that's never deterred me.
Congratulations Scott! i don't know you other than the bits of your writing at rabble, but it seems great. And congrats to the other new leaders and all those who participated, to aka Mycroft and others for reporting.
i've enjoyed reading this
And there were so many good lines. Is Andrea's speech on U-Tube yet? I want to quote her best lines accurately.
My experience also.
As someone who went into all the campaigns to talk to supporters of other candidates I found that even those who were strongly committed to their candidates were excited about Andrea. The talk to 'convince' those on the floor to 'move' to Andrea after the first ballot was not all that difficult. As Scott can attest I kept running out of Andrea support stickers.
A great day and a great future for the NDP and the issues we fight for with a very united and fiesty party ready to take on the Liberals.
It is sad for workers in Ontario looking to a government that cares about their jobs to find out that Dalton really wasn't up to the job all along.
(and Wilf did you notice the only candidate to mention rural Ontario and the importance of food production to our economy)
Two - two mints in one
Sorry for the double phantom post
BA, I know you had to leave early, but you would have loved her speech today. She talked at length about the work that we needed to do to move from Dalton McGuinty's Ontario (bad) to "our Ontario". Among other things, she specifically mentioned the the need to "make family farms viable again". I applauded extra hard to make up for your absence from the room.
Thanks Scott. I guess that was the little thrill I felt driving home. And congrats, although I already did that in person.
Today though hockey dad trumped political activist. It was just as thrilling to have my daughter's team win the tournament in a shoot out after two overtime periods. What a great way to spend International Women's Day watching these fiesty, strong girls on both teams never give up.
Congratulations and solidarity to sister Andrea on her victory and to Scott and others on theirs.
Has there been any word on what Tabuns, Bisson and Prue had to say after it was all over? Were they all gracefull in defeat etc...?
A press release from Tabuns' campaign congratulating Horwath was distributed to the media after the final ballot results were announced.
P.S. Wilf, if your idea of "remaking the party" is shitting all over people from Toronto, then "get used to" alienating a huge base of NDP support in Ontario if your party is stupid enough to follow suit (which I think they won't be). As a Torontonian, I couldn't care less where the leader of any party comes from, and I liked Howard Hampton and thought he was a pretty good leader, way better than Toronto-based Bob Rae. I also think that the NDP has to build a much stronger base in a lot of ridings where they run non-existent campaigns every election, and those are usually rural or suburban ridings. But you're not going to get there by trashing Toronto and the concerns of a huge concentration of people who are sympathetic to your message.
One thing that I noticed about this campaign, and I really don’t know what it says and means, is more what I think Wilf is talking about than geography.
Many of the earliest supporters of Andrea’s are people who, I guess like her too, came of age in the late 80s to experience the recession full force in the early 90s. At the same time they watched the NDP take government, wobble under Rae’s leadership, and then be replaced by Harris. To this cohort it became obvious that moral victories were not enough. Government could undue 50 years of progress on issues in one term as Harris did.
It was never spoken of, but I find it interesting that a number of this group- a group that were once outsiders in the party, or left all together for a while, coalesced around Andrea very early on. They are now mainstream in the party for the most part, and are sort of that ‘next’ generation of leadership (although it really isn’t an age thing). They signed on at a time when the prevailing assumption was that Peter was a lock. At a time when a victory by Andrea seemed possible, but improbable this group was gearing up.
They hold a different world view in some ways to the ‘old guard’. This next generation of leaders in the party have an unabashed focus on acheiving government. Many were frustrated by a party system that entrenched into a select few ridings and abandoned the rest. Many of these activists come from what I call plateau ridings that have acheived a certain level of success around a local person and team. But can’t get to the next level of electing an MPP without central support that wasn’t there. They ended up getting frustrated and burnt out and the whole process had to be rebuilt from scratch again. That group seemed to be around Andrea and focused on the leadership campaign, but also the general campaigns to come.
There are lots of people from both ‘groups’ on all sides, so lots of individual chances to prove the theory wrong. But as a general thing, I think more is changing in the NDP than the leader.
A press release from Tabuns' campaign congratulating Horwath was distributed to the media after the final ballot results were announced.
Gilles was certainly very graceful Saturday night and Sunday morning in my experience. He seems excited about the times ahead in fact.
Here's a blog with a lot of her speech:
. . . a week ago the steel mills in the skyline represented work. now they represent people out of work, an economy ripped apart by neo-liberalism.
I was a CAW brat. i went to university because my father had a good job. I would not be here today if it wasn't for my father's well paid union job.
We'll invest in ourselves, our workplaces. It's our money, we will demand an equity stake. Smart investments, targeted investments in products of the future. light rail. We'll build green cars. We will produce once again and we will buy our own products. We'll buy farm products grown in Ontario.
We'll put light rail systems in our cities and invest in our work by making Ontario a transit hub. We'll make every job a good job. We will make sure minimum wage is a living wage. We'll get rid of scab labour. We will make sure part time, casual and migrant workers are all treated like the real workers that they are and we will bring our workforce back to health. We will stop eating away at our public system. We will expand our public system. Let's make child care and post secondary education fully public.
The neo liberal experiment has exploded. The invisible hand doesn't work. it never existed and we should not trust invisible hands to take care of us.
I'm a community organizer and I trust people but it's not a blind trust. I've seen what people can accomplish together like the days of action.
When i think about our climate crisis I do so with the mind of an organizer. People want a cleaner environment and I trust people will make the changes they need to make to get that. We must help them by making environmentalism affordable with loans for [environmental retrofits] Let's do for the environment what we did for health care 50 years ago. Let's make environmentalism universal.
It's time for us to believe in ourselves again. We can make this province a better, fairer place where the average working woman gets the child care she needs and McGuinty gets the pink slip he deserves.
In 2011 we will bring change to Queen's Park, and I am just the woman to do it.
Closing for length.