Inside the Liberal convention
Constitutional chaos, policy palooza, logo launch, federal forfeit and Bonnie Crombie's big challenge
THE LEDE
“A lot of people don't know what to feel.”
With another loss behind them — this time, in Bay of Quinte, where they picked up but fell short — the mood at the annual Liberal policy convention in London was mixed: a wave of optimism over an upward trajectory of public support met with private unease over how a year of Bonnie Crombie at the helm has passed.
To some, with the threat of an early election — “stay tuned,” Ford teased — hanging over, Crombie’s summer of scarce media, the Tories’ unscathed approval and a string of losses, the party isn’t near prepared to take on Doug Ford. “The team around Bonnie has shown no capacity to win or even make gains,” said one frustrated Liberal source ahead of the annual huddle.
But others gainsay. “Remember that Bonnie inherited a party with no status, no resources and is picking up the pieces,” said a second source. “The change we want cannot come overnight but considering we added ten points to our vote share in Quinte, it’s clear things are on an upward trajectory with Bonnie and she only gets stronger by the day.”
Against that backdrop, here’s what went down in the Forest City last weekend:
— Constitutional changes; approved, refused or dead on arrival: In a closed session, members reviewed and voted on a slew of proposed constitutional amendments, focused on streamlining the text and reviewing the current internal governance structure. We broke news of these proposed adjustments earlier this month.
The party is slated to publish the updated version of the text soon, but several changes were passed, including the creation of a new “Ontario Liberal Seniors Commission.” The goal, one source explained, was to replicate the successful outreach work of a similar commission at the federal level. “As a large voting demographic with reliably high turnout, success in engaging senior voters would yield a disproportionate electoral advantage,” the proposal read. Still, some were irked, arguing a commission was not necessary for senior representation.
Meanwhile, two key amendments — one on the governance structure, another on the frequency of conventions — were shot down.
This governance structure amendment was born out of a review conducted earlier this year, which, among other things, would have limited the membership of provincial council, updated the list of executive council’s authorities, increased the threshold for quorum and revised executives’ job synopses.
The amendment also proposed slashing the number of Young Liberals on the provincial council from sixteen to five, and per several familiar, that sparked palpable tension in the hall.
“The Young Liberals took down the party,” said one source, granted anonymity to recount the meeting. A pair from Crombie’s team — Alexis Levine, liaison between the leader and the executive council, and Jack Siegel, former counsel — spoke in favour of the motion, while the youth commission opposed the motion, consolidating their voting bloc to kill it.
“As we were voting, one lady at our table told us: ‘if you don’t vote in favour, I will haunt you till my last breath,’” described one young delegate, who voted against. The individual added: “when I voted against, she whispered: ‘these young little shits think they run the show.’“
“Some members — including one very vocal old lady in front of us, who swore at me — claimed we ‘hijacked’ the meeting or ‘ruined the hard work of the committee’ for organizing around the issue,” a second described.
“The party was upset that we defeated their motions — especially #1, it was extremely close,” the source added. “They had it at 8 a.m. — they thought the kids weren’t going to wake up. They weren’t prepared.” Nonetheless, some young delegates cautioned that it was not a vote against the entire proposal.
The second adjustment struck down was tied to the frequency of conventions. The annual meeting — which would be referred to as the “convention” — would become biannual. “Increasing the time between gatherings slightly will allow for greater continuity of the executive council and free up resources associated,” the report explained.
Meanwhile, a change, which would have allowed Bonnie Crombie to dodge a leadership review if she lost seats, was dead on arrival. While Crombie distanced herself from the proposal, the move was slammed as a bid “to turn the Liberal Party into the Bonnie Crombie Party.”
Milton Chan, the task force’s chair, denied Crombie’s involvement — taking responsibility for the “error.” “Just to be absolutely clear, it was never suggested, and never contemplated, to make a leadership review optional after any election we did not form government,” he wrote via email.
“The proposed change that attracted attention in the last few days was relating to the mechanism of the leadership review. The new ‘exception’ was put forward by the committee,” he added. “We proposed the update based on feedback and discussions over the years (ranging from making the exception applicable whenever we win an election including minority situations, to making no exception at all and periodic reviews with or without election, to a variety of nuanced thresholds in between), and we put forward a proposed middle ground that we believe is a consensus position — that the majority mandate from voters should be a clear enough indication of the leader’s merit and this mandate from the voters should be respected.”
“We operated independently,” Chan reiterated. “Given the dust up in the past few days, I just want to clearly state on the record that the leader and her team did not give any direction for this proposal or any of the other proposals tabled in the report.”
— Policy sessions, headline speeches and a radio guy: While no plenaries were held to adopt policy, several sessions took place on Saturday.
The presidents of the four major teachers’ unions — Karen Brown, Karen Littlewood, René Jansen in de Wal and Gabrielle Lemieux — spoke on a panel about education policy. “We’re willing to engage with anyone,” said one sector source. “I will hear from people who will be very angry, but we can’t disagree with everyone. At some point in time, we have to have alliances,” Brown said in an interview.
Next door, it was standing room only for the housing policy session with Jen Keesmaat and Adil Shamji. With Crombie seated in the front row, Keesmaat — who once ran to become Toronto’s mayor — gave a presentation called “Dream The Dream: Housing For All,” speaking about her municipal experiences and barriers to development.
Over in the main hall, former federal cabinet minister Jane Philpott sat down with AM640’s Greg Brady — yes, that Greg Brady — to discuss health care policy and “rebuilding” the system.
Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark later told delegates that it was time to rally around the captain. “Many say that Liberalism is dead in this country. I say to them they should take a look at this room — a room full of people who believe in what Liberals can do,” she said.
Clark has privately been angling for a federal leadership bid. She visited the Ontario Real Estate Association’s glitzy hospitality suite on Friday. On Saturday, she mingled with the youth wing at the La Casa Ristorante, a block away from the convention centre.
— Bonnie’s rally: Later in the day, Crombie delivered a feisty speech to hundreds of party faithful, unveiling a new slogan: “More For You.”
“You have a government that works for you and not them. We are going to do more for you,” she said. “More to get you a family doctor, more to keep ERs open, more for our students, more for renters who want to feel safe in their homes, more for young people wanting to buy their first place and more to grow our economy.”
If it was any clue of what the next election will look like, it’s bound to be a political boxing match. “Spicy,” said one senior Liberal who previewed Crombie’s speech.
Crombie took a dig at Ford, comparing him to Donald Trump. “When I called him out, he called me names. And then he called me over to his mother's house — that big one we've all seen on TV, where they hosted Ford Fest for their friends and insiders,” she said. “[He] leaned against the wall and asked: ‘Why aren’t you ever nice to me? Why can’t you say nice things? Everyone else says nice things,’” she added, in a deep voice. “It sounded too familiar. Like an echo from over the border.”
But for the new leader, Saturday was about making it clear that she's the alternative. To cheers, Crombie said team red was “the only opposition party able to take on Doug Ford, and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”
The decision to have D’arci McFadden — a member of her inner circle and senior vice president at McMillian — introduce Crombie raised some eyebrows. “Let’s kick out the insiders? Everyone in that room was an insider!” texted another Liberal source. “Is D’arci a candidate? What on earth?”
— I ❤️ logos: The party also revealed a new logo, abandoning the controversial Toronto Sun circle. The new logo — “Liberal” in red block letters, with a white trillium in the “A” — was adapted into renditions of “I Love New York.” While it was popular with many, as seen from this reporter’s perch atop the press risers, the logo brought out some smirks in the audience, including from past candidates.
Still, many quietly expressed their relief that the new logo was rolled out well ahead of the next election, allowing for ample time to print signage. In the last round, some were “annoyed by how soon before the campaign the last rebrand was announced.”
— RSVP’d but MIA: The federal caucus steered clear of the convention, though a few had intended to show up. Crombie has been seeking to distance herself from federal baggage — and as this newsletter previously reported, painting that contrast has been a challenge for the Liberal leader.
As one source said: “The faster the Trudeau government is gone, the faster Bonnie [Crombie] can beat Ford.”
— Wynne’s take: Beyond the main stage, former premier Kathleen Wynne joined us for a live, candid conversation on the state of the party and the province — and she pulled no punches.
Here’s what stood out:
On the race in Don Valley West: “I have been pretty careful since I’ve left the Premier’s Office to not interfere where I wasn’t wanted. I’ve tried pretty hard to keep my mouth shut when it’s not needed. I think that’s a good policy — it’s good to stay neutral, good to be supportive… I honestly believe that Anthony Furey is not the kind of person who we, as progressives, would want to see elected. He is bigoted. I don’t think that he’d serve the community well. I now have endorsed Rachel. I did not early on, and I certainly had conversations with a number of the people that are running who are on the progressive side of the ledger. The point I made was that just it seems to me that the important issue in this particular race is that we not have somebody like Anthony Furey as the city councillor. It would have been great if there was one candidate who progressives could coalesce around. That hasn’t happened so voters will decide.”
On the party’s health: “I feel very strongly that we understand that the work that we did as Liberals between 2003 and 2018 was foundational to not just the well-being of our party, but foundational to the well-being of Ontario… We did a lot of very good, solid work, whether it was in education, whether it was healthcare or whether it was in economic metrics. I feel that we have all the fundamentals in our party to do that again, to build from where we are, because the foundation is in place. And a lot of that has to do with work that we did. So, that’s why I’m here today. That’s why I continue to come to to these meetings. I think it’s important that not only we understand that we have the policy chops and the capacity to think about complex issues, but also, I’m here because we have the continuity of people who have worked under leader after leader and understand that the liberal value is at the core of why we’re involved.”
On the Trudeau drag: “Let’s think about 2018. In 2018, I was, for all sorts of reasons, a drag on the party. I think in 2018, there were lots of federal Liberals who felt that I was a drag on them. They weren’t in an election at that point, but they would have felt that I was a drag on the brand. I really believe that, sure, there’s a political reality of that, but I’m not going to disown or disavow Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau has implemented a lot of the really important policies that we have advocated for years…The point I’m making is that I think we have to be careful about how we distance ourselves from one another, because it’s politically expedient. I think that either we believe in the policies of the Liberal Party or we don’t, and if we don’t, then we need to find a home somewhere else. But if we do, then we need to work to make sure that those members, because Justin Trudeau is one member, and he is the leader, of course, and the leader draws the heat, right? It’s really important, I think, that we make sure that we work for the people who we believe in, and we consistently stick to our belief system.”
On Ford’s popularity: “I think people don’t know Bonnie yet. I also think that he’s a very superficial hail fellow, well-met kind of guy. He walks into a room, pats people on the shoulder. There’s definitely an energy around him for no reason other than he’s a big guy and he throws himself. I can’t explain it to you. But he takes up a lot of space he’s a bit of a chameleon. If you think about what he’s done throughout his time as Premier, it’s not that he hasn’t made a lot of enemies, he just hasn’t stood for much. People can imprint on him what they want to.”
On being attacked by the Tories: “No, no. I was attacked by not just Conservatives. [laughs]. Everybody!”
On calling an early election: “Only if the reason I got into office was to stay in office. If the reason I got into office was to do the work and implement the policies that I ran on, then I’d want another year to do that and I would continue that work because, when you go into a campaign, all of that becomes secondary… When people say ‘well, you know, he’s polling so high, of course he'd want to run.’ No, no, no, no. He’s polling so high so it could mean that people want him to continue to do the work that he’s doing. I don’t happen to believe that's the case. But if you're in office and you're doing well and you’ve got a plan, that's what you want to keep doing. I believe that if you are in office and you’re looking at those numbers, and you want to run, you want to run an election because of those numbers, then it’s all about being in office. It’s not about implementing an agenda. It’s not about putting policies in place. It’s not about improving education or health care. It’s about staying in power. If he does call the election early, I think we have to call him on that.”
On missing Queen’s Park: “You never leave. I don’t feel like I’ve left. I feel like it’s my obligation now to be part of these conversations, to answer the questions of people who have them… And, you know, old as I am, I still can remember my experiences, and so when I can no longer answer the questions, then I’ll step out.”
Eager to listen? We’ll publish the full recording of our conversation with Wynne early next week. Plus, look out for more from our chat with campaign directors Gen Tomney and Chad Walsh, their first since being named to the job.
WHAT WE'RE READING
— With the Ford government eyeing legislation to halt the construction of new bike lanes on major streets, the new proposal is being put to the test in a fresh poll.
— John Michael McGrath — a renowned cyclist himself — says Premier Ford should focus on addressing the real problems “instead of inventing fake” ones.
— Meanwhile, Ford has a message to healthy homeless: “Get off your A-S-S and start working.”
— The province is looking to build a tunnelled express route under the 401.
— Brian Lilley says bravo to Ford — who, at least is “coming up with possible solutions” — for his tunnel vision.
— But Matti Siemiatycki says the idea will “only make congestion worse.”
— It’s all “wedge politics, not urban planning,” Martin Regg Cohn added.
— For the second year in a row, only half of sixth graders met the provincial standard in math.
— Belleville city council will consider picking Margaret Seu — next in line but who placed seventh — to replace Tyler Allsopp, who quit following his provincial win in Quinte.
— Jill Dunlop says “activist teachers” are to blame for a school trip to a protest supporting the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
— The Toronto District School Board says a provincial probe should be a fait accompli no later than December.
— The NDP is reviewing “the outcomes of various electoral scenarios in Hamilton Centre,” including bringing Sarah Jama back into caucus.
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE:
A previous version of this story included a quote published in error. After review, it has been removed.