Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles says finishing second in the last provincial election wasn’t good enough, and that she isn’t taking anything for granted ahead of a mandatory leadership review at next month’s party convention.
In an interview with CBC News, Stiles was candid about the party’s struggles during the snap vote called by Premier Doug Ford earlier this year and the work she needs to do to maintain the confidence of her party. She has been criss-crossing the province on tour this summer and said the work starts with acknowledging that the NDP fell short of its own expectations on election day.
“No question, coming second, I consider that a failure,” she said.
“I want us to be able to deliver the results that Ontarians need, and I think right now, Ontarians can’t afford a government like Doug Ford’s.”
Ford cruised to his third straight majority government in February, in an election dominated by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the trade war between the U.S. and Canada. The NDP came second in seat count, holding onto 27 seats, down one from the previous vote in 2022.
But the New Democrats finished a disappointing third in the popular vote with 18 per cent, well back of the Ontario Liberals who finished with nearly 30 per cent, but only 14 seats.
What’s next for Ontario’s main parties post-election?
Stiles said her party was forced to make “tough choices” during the writ period, pulling back on campaigns in ridings where they were weaker in order to bolster their incumbent MPPs who were pressed by an aggressive and well-funded Progressive Conservative team.
“You’ve got the Conservatives and Doug Ford targeting NDP incumbents,” she said. “I mean, they were very explicit about the fact that they wanted to knock off a number of our strong MPPs, people who’ve been, frankly, the ones who’ve been holding them to account all the time.”
Stiles acknowledges she has faced internal turmoil within her party since being acclaimed as leader in 2023.
She kicked Sara Jama out of the party caucus in October 2023 following an uproar over comments the former Hamilton Centre MPP made in support of Palestinians after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel earlier that month. Jama was subsequently barred from running for the party in the last election.
That decision angered some NDP members in the riding, who called for a review of Stiles leadership at the next convention. NDP candidate Robin Lennox ended up defeating Jama, who ran as an independent, and regained the Hamilton Centre seat for the party.
“I’m not hearing it, and certainly I never take anything for granted,” Stiles said of any further internal calls for her ouster. (she’s NOT hearing it? just making sure this is correct)
Under the NDP constitution, a vote is held at every convention to determine if a leadership election is necessary. If a majority of delegates vote in favour, a new leadership race must be held within a year.
The NDP convention, which will be held in Niagara Falls, Ont., next month, will take place a week after the Ontario Liberals hold their annual general meeting. The Grits will hold a mandatory leadership review of Bonnie Crombie, who faces some members calling for her defeat. She has vowed to fight the push to unseat her.
NDP strategist Kim Wright says she doesn’t think there’s much appetite for a new leadership race amongst Ontario New Democrats. But the party wants to win and isn’t content with the second-place finish, she said.
“Am I satisfied with not winning? Absolutely not,” she said. “And more and more New Democrats have come to the realization that you need to win, to (make) change,” she said.
Wright said she’s encouraged by the cross-provincial tour Stiles has embarked on over the summer, focusing on listening and learning lessons from the campaign.
“I think what you’re seeing is here’s how we handle hard times, but also here’s how we grow,” she said.
McMaster University political science professor Peter Graefe said he doesn’t expect to see an aggressive bid to push Stiles out at the party gathering. But the NDP has failed to capitalize on the gains it made in 2018 when it first secured Official Opposition status.
“Marit Stiles is not known by many Ontarians, and even those who know her name don’t really know much about her,” he said. “I think a lot of what she has to do is unglamorous. She has to find a way of getting NDP activists to go and organize in places where the going is really hard.”
Trent University political science professor Cristine de Clercy said the party has been rebuilding since former leader Andrea Horwath resigned.
That will be an arduous process and the snap vote earlier this year was part of it. She says Stiles’s performance in the most recent campaign was laudable given it was her first as leader and she was fighting an experienced campaigner in Ford and a resurgent Liberal Party.
“The fact that she managed to retain the second status position as Official Opposition of the province of Ontario in those conditions, in my view, is actually pretty impressive,” de Clercy said.
But the NDP will have to focus on rebuilding the party and fundraising if it wants to improve its standing ahead of the next provincial election. And launching into a new leadership race won’t help that, she said.
“New Democrats, in Ontario in particular, don’t want to be in a position where they’re looking for a leader at the very same time that the federal party is also looking for a leader,” she said. “The New Democrats in Canada generally need some leadership stability.”
