Canada PoliticsOntario Liberals bid farewell to Dalton McGuinty
Friday night was Dalton McGuinty night at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention.
The party paid tribute to their leader of 16 years in a gala affair that in many ways was also a family affair.
Two of the premier's two children — Dalton Jr. and Carleen — emceed the hour-long event at the former Maple Leaf Gardens with some colourful anecdotes about growing up 'McGuinty' — apparently the outgoing premier is a 'Glee' fan.
The evening also featured a musical performance from crooner Matt Dusk and a 20 person dance troupe which, at one point, boogied in the aisles.
McGuinty eventually took to the stage with an emotional speech noting that it all began for him in the same building 16 years ago when he became leader.
"It was here, 16 years ago, when they announced the results that [wife] Terri leaned over and gently whispered in my ear: 'You said you weren’t going to win,'" he said.
"This building has changed a lot since then. It’s been renewed. And that’s what our party is doing this weekend: We are renewing ourselves with new leadership, new members, new ideas, and new energy."
McGuinty also spoke about the party's accomplishments since he became premier.
"My friends, inspired by Ontarians, you turned our province around. Because we were headed in the wrong direction. The last government had Ontario in a race to the bottom with cuts to our schools, our health care and our environmental protections.
For nine years now, we have been building Ontario for the future by getting the big things right for families, today. So we’ve gone from struggling schools to the best schools in the English-speaking world. From Canada’s longest wait times to Canada’s shortest. From dirty, coal-fired electricity to clean energy, clean air and 30,000 new jobs.
And when the recession came, we stood up for Ontario families by stepping up for Ontario jobs.
Ontario is now in a different race: The race to the top.
We can be proud we got the big things right while seeing with clear eyes there’s still much more to do."
Prior to the speech, the six candidates vying to replace him, were each given an opportunity to say a few words.
[ Related: Will Liberals give Ontario its first openly gay, woman or visible minority premier? ]
"Under your leadership, our education system has become the envy of the world. Under your leadership, our hospitals have become better," MPP Harinder Takhar said.
"Under your leadership, our infrastructure has improved. I want to thank you for giving so much to this province and so much of your life."
Gerard Kennedy, who incidentally, ran against McGuinty for the leadership in 1996, had glowing comments about the premier as well.
"This is a man who woke up everyday thinking about what good he could do for Ontario. A politician with very, very little ego with tremendous, amazing commitment," he told the jam-packed convention hall.
"To work with him was an honour and a privilege. To have him working for Ontario is something that we have been extremely grateful for, for the past 16 years.”
Also in the crowd, but not asked to speak, were outgoing finance minister Dwight Duncan, former MPP Greg Sorbara, federal party leader Bob Rae, and former Premier David Peterson.
