Ontario Liberal leadership candidates make pitch to be premier

The Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention began in earnest on Saturday when each of the six candidates took to the stage and pitched themselves to a room of about 2,000 party members tasked with selecting a new leader.

Each candidate was given half-an-hour to summarize themselves and why they were the best choice. Every word was valuable.

This is what they said.

Gerard Kennedy

Gerard Kennedy entered the convention hall, Saturday morning, to chants of "GK, GK, GK", with a couple of challenges.

T

he first one is that, while Kennedy is popular throughout the province, there is some concern that he is an 'outsider' -- that his absence from from the provincial party — while he served as a MP in Ottawa — hurts his chances at being elected as party leader.

As a result, Kennedy spent a good part of his speech reminding Ontario Liberals that he was one of them. He reminded them that he was a candidate for leadership in 1996 against Dalton McGuinty. He also reminded them that he was the province's education minister.

"I was all of 36 years old last time I asked for your support with just six months experience in the legislature," he told the crowd.

"And that 16 hour experience at our last [leadership] convention turned into a 10 year commitment helping to rebuild this party in opposition and in government."

His second challenge was to somehow garner enough second and third ballot support to leapfrog over Sandra Pupatello and Kathleen Wynne — the front runners in the race.

Kennedy did that by appealing to rural voters and immigrant delegates and by galvanizing the crowd against Tim Hudak's Conservatives and Andrea Horwath's NDP.

"If an election was called today, the Conservatives would win. The NDP would edge us out for second place. And we would go from a governing party of 3 successive terms to third party status," he said.

"We will not let that happen. That's why we're here."

Up next to the podium is Kathleen Wynne.

- Andy Radia

Harinder Takhar

Takhar, currently a Member of Provincial Parliament in Mississauga, began his speech by outlining his immigration story, which was the subject of some controversy during the campaign.

“My story is not unlike the story of many of you in this room,” he said. “I came to this country in 1974 with less than $10 in my pocket. I still remember landing at Toronto International Airport to find myself far away from familiar surroundings and family. It was a very difficult and lonely time.”

Takhar also told a personal story about choosing to assimilate into society, cutting his hair and removing his turban in order to get a job. He said the province has changed, has become more accepting, but added that there was work to be done on improving skills training and child support programs.

“As I look around, I am so proud to see the diversity of this province. That is what makes us all such proud Liberals,” he said.

Takhar seemed somewhat resigned to his also-ran status, admitting at the top of his speech that some people had never heard his name before he entered the leadership race.

-Matthew Coutts