Who will be the next leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario?

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I do agree that she has a very big international perspective of everything. She could be a future Prime Minister but I don't know if her timing is right.

But she is an amazingly good speaker and is someone who sounds interesting no matter what she is talking about. And her appearances in the media are what makes her grab peoples' attention in a positive manner. I also think that she would be very effective against Ford as she has taken on many conservative politicians and knows how to debate them. If she won in a by-election and the Liberals got official party status, she would steal the show from Andrea Horwath.

I don't think that the Ontario Liberal Party will choose a new leader for at least a few years. Freeland is definitely a good pick from what I've seen of her to date. She is multi-lingual and would appeal to many 905ers.

But why would she want to take on trying to rebuild a party that doesn't even have official party status?

[mistercorporate]

Did someone seriously suggest Ahmed Hussein? Leftwing financially irresponsible nutjobs like that are exactly why we ki ked the Liberals to the curb. Worst immigration minister in living memory.

[Docere]

Since it's easy enough to do, here is the list of the OLP caucus:

Marie France-Lalonde (Orleans)
Nathalie Des Rosiers (Ottawa-Vanier)
John Fraser (Ottawa South)
Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood)
Michael Coteau (Don Valley East)
Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West)
Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North)

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Docere

But why would she want to take on trying to rebuild a party that doesn't even have official party status?

That's a fair question for sure.

In many ways, it's often better to rebuild starting with a very small number of sitting members. I can see the Liberals gaining somebody in the next few years in a by-election to regain official party status.

Also, things can change quickly in just a few years. Federally, many were predicting the death of the Liberals or that they had no chance of winning again from 2011 to 2014. Doug Ford and the PCs won't be popular forever and the NDP just proved that they won't win an election even when they have momentum. Justin Trudeau made most voters forget the negative issues from when Chrétien and Martin were PMs. The next LPO leader can do the same concerning McGuinty and Wynne.

Chrystia Freeland is someone who knows how to capture attention and she really knows how to explain and simplify topics through the media. I think she would be the right person to take on Ford. She would probably draw back lots of the people who voted NDP this year and also be able to attract support from those in the suburbs (especially in the 905) who voted PC.