It may not sound like much, especially since the provincial House doesn’t even sit on Fridays, but the former Ontario premier notes she works in her constituency on other days. Get the latest from Kathleen. It’s difficult to imagine how Ms. Wynne, 65, faces the reality of her party’s situation. She led the Liberals to a historic defeat in last June’s election, keeping only seven seats in the legislature – one shy of official-party status. Wynne and those before her kind of let scandals die and be swept under the rug - Canadians are too nice and forgetful! Some information in it may no longer be current. People can like you but not want you to lead them. 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In the meantime, despite those “likeable” pre-campaign images of Wynne engaging with potential voters, she can’t really afford to focus on whether she’s popular, or likeable, which are not exactly the same thing. Q: Why is Kathleen Wynne so hated? Every resident of Ontario able to sit up and take nourishment — probably including Wiarton Willie last week — has known the study’s conclusion for a long time: Premier Kathleen Wynne is doing a lousy job of managing Ontario’s economy. With the volatile and controversial leader Doug Ford at the helm of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives, there’s still time for an upheaval. Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West, became education minister in 2006 and remained in positions of power until 2018. Torontoist has been acquired by Daily Hive Toronto - Your City. Crushingly so. When asked which of the government’s decisions has concerned her the most, Ms. Wynne answers dryly: “It’s hard to choose.”. Kathleen Wynne made a commitment to herself: show up to the Ontario Legislature at least two days a week. When young women ask me about my experience now, I am less willing to gloss over the challenges. Ms. Wynne still faces her own tough questions, even out of government. All She has consistently been under 20 per cent. It’s a choice between care, or cuts.”. Kathleen Wynne Wants You To Elect Doug Ford The best case outcome for the Liberals now is for the Conservatives to win, so the NDP doesn't become legitimized in government. “I felt it was my responsibility to take my lumps, let whatever was going to happen, happen,” she said. Why is that? If Wynne’s Liberals, a party that has been in power for the past 15 years, with Wynne at the helm for five — and now all but written off by polls and pundits — manage to win the upcoming provincial election, it won’t be just a “blessin” for her. Now, after a lavish pre-election budget rollout — free daycare, making other investments in health — and having already instituted very popular measures, including free tuition for some post-secondary students, pharmacare and the $14 minimum wage, set to rise to $15 if her government stays in power — Wynne’s Liberals have climbed in some polls from “dead in the water” to “maybe there’s life yet.”. Thank you for your patience. . Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. But no, I don’t think it will work—but I don’t think anything will work right now for the Liberals. Indeed, some members of Del Duca’s team speculated to me earlier this year (during the party’s leadership race) that Wynne would stick around after 2022 because she was skeptical of the man who is now the party leader. In the 2014 election, Wynne was cozy with the unions (read: sunny ways). That guessing was obviously wrong. Ford Nation is victorious. Two women, both strong progressives, and one man. Name * First Last. Like I say: Kathleen Wynne … “I tear up just thinking about it,” she said. expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Kathleen Wynne has it backwards. presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution I don’t like that at all, and it worries me enormously.”. Wynne is introducing a controversial "sex ed" curriculum that promotes homosexuality.) Doug Ford And Kathleen Wynne’s Warm Exchange Is The 2020 Moment No One Saw Coming Turning 65 in May, Wynne may well be the most physically fit Ontario premier in history. Click here to subscribe. Yeah indeed. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen images of embattled Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne doing all she can to be visible, relatable and, yes, very likeable. by contrast, Hudak told us that Ontario had to cut spending. Defiant, yet almost in tears over her party’s loss, Ms. Wynne at once defends her government’s record while acknowledging that her personal unpopularity caused her to take the extraordinary step of announcing days before the June election that she would not win. With only a 19% approval rating, Wynne falls just short of one in five respondents approving of her and the job she’s been doing. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about The campaign will show us whether the current populist surge, fuelled in part by anger, and a narrowing of tolerance for “the other,” personified in the U.S. by Donald Trump, and invigorated here by Doug Ford, has made Wynne’s kind of openness and compassion a wussy — and fiscal — liability. When she’s at Queen’s Park, Ms. Wynne has a front-row seat – albeit, from the corner – to Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government in action. You’d have a better chance of finding Waldo in a crowd then former Premier Kathleen Wynne in the legislative assembly. Still, Ms. Wynne doesn’t regret leading the Liberals into the June election. Let’s see what shakes down in the voting booth. Wynne compressed a lot of change into a short amount of time because there was an election coming. “I don’t like watching what are, in my opinion, bad decisions. W hen I reach Kathleen Wynne by phone at the end of October, she’s exasperated. Incredible, I know, but he is doing what he should be doing: working. Doug Ford has won the Ontario PC leadership. And I hated to disappoint them.”, In the end, she tried to salvage as many seats as she could. The Ford government, she argues, has no vision. As a result, Ontario – now the most heavily-indebted sub-sovereign jurisdiction on earth – faces an escalating debt problem, made all the worse by Kathleen Wynne’s policies. A grade-by-grade breakdown of Kathleen Wynne’s graphic new sex-ed program From the earliest ages, children are taught they have the 'right to enjoy their sexuality.' We don’t succeed at everything.”. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has come in last place for favourability, according to a recently released study from the Angus Reid Institute. Ms. Wynne doesn’t believe, for example, that the deficit is $15-billion as the Tories say. It's over. Support for the Progressive Conservatives has “collapsed,” according to a new poll, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford is now less popular than Kathleen Wynne at the end of her time as Premier. For Ford it is likely his handling of student loans and grants; for Wynne it was her highly controversial carbon tax crusade. Now he's fighting to dodge any conflict and shrug off accountability by creating measures to censor his critics. rights reserved. Ontario Liberal MPP Kathleen Wynne is seen as the legislature sits inside Queen's Park in Toronto on Sept. 15, 2018. No one even questioned her “likability.” Now she’s in the political race of her life. “My intention is to represent my constituents and I will continue to do that,” she said, when asked if she’ll serve her entire term. “It’s hard to watch, that’s for sure. When she won the Liberal leadership in 2013, Wynne was seen as authentic and fresh, although leading a tired party. Kathleen Wynne made a commitment to herself: show up to the Ontario Legislature at least two days a week. Premier Kathleen Wynne says the government has not yet given teachers' unions $2.5 million to help cover the cost of negotiations, and will now require receipts to show how the money is spent. And now Wynne wants the same thing with cannabis. Wynne recently said the June 7 election will present “the clearest, starkest choice in this province’s history . “They’re using a number that they’ve kind of cobbled together as a cover for cutting programs and cutting supports,” she said. Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. How unpopular is Kathleen Wynne as premier? “The reason we put cap-and-trade in place is because it does foster that kind of economic activity. We hope to have this fixed soon. 351 King Street East, Suite 1600, Toronto, ON Canada, M5A 0N1, Just $1.99 per week for the first 24 weeks, var select={root:".js-sub-pencil",control:".js-sub-pencil-control",open:"o-sub-pencil--open",closed:"o-sub-pencil--closed"},dom={},allowExpand=!0;function pencilInit(o){var e=arguments.length>1&&void 0!==arguments[1]&&arguments[1];select.root=o,dom.root=document.querySelector(select.root),dom.root&&(dom.control=document.querySelector(select.control),dom.control.addEventListener("click",onToggleClicked),setPanelState(e),window.addEventListener("scroll",onWindowScroll),dom.root.removeAttribute("hidden"))}function isPanelOpen(){return dom.root.classList.contains(select.open)}function setPanelState(o){dom.root.classList[o?"add":"remove"](select.open),dom.root.classList[o? We aim to have all comments reviewed in a timely manner. Tue Feb 24, 2015 - … “They will tell you they want to balance the budget, but balancing the budget doesn’t inherently mean you’re building anything,” she said. First Kathleen Wynne destroyed her own family. A: Because Wynne is dishonest. Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. Latest News. Follow topics and authors relevant to your reading interests. Judith Timson is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. . The Canadian Press/HuffPost Canada composite. Kathleen Wynne, who has been Ontario premier for more than two years now, should take a long, hard look at what McGuinty achieved and how he did it. Some information in it may no longer be current. One thing that has come out of the populist scenario, for good or bad, is that voters crave authenticity. WATCH: The one thing Kathleen Wynne should be sorry for If Ontarians find that being Wynne-splained and lectured creates emotional distance, this ad attempts to bridge that distance. When Wynne's oldest son, Chris, was eleven-years-old, his mother kicked his dad into the basement and moved her lesbian lover into his parent's bedroom. After presiding over such problematic issues as the sale of Hydro One, rising electricity costs and indulging the teachers’ unions, she dipped to an all-time approval low of 12 per cent last year. Email * Postal Code * Add your name. We aim to create a safe and valuable space for discussion and debate. One of Wynne’s political strengths used to be that authenticity. She settles on the cancellation of the cap-and-trade program, calling it “the most fundamentally disturbing” for a government that prides itself on its business acumen. Kathleen Wynne Your MPP in Don Valley West. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne takes part in the meeting of First Ministers in Ottawa on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. She said she meets people across the province who regularly thank her for her government’s work, including raising the minimum wage to $14 an hour. “It’s less predictable and, therefore, more dangerous than what happened with Harris,” she said. “How would that have been fair for a new leader to be carrying all the baggage that I had?”, Now, she is back in the legislature, watching as her work is undone. Wynne gets rough ride from autoworker at town hall meeting in Ancaster, As Tories flail, Kathleen Wynne plots her comeback, Ontario voters facing ‘stark choice’ in June, says Kathleen Wynne, And my favourite Wynne appearance, already mocked on Twitter by one anti-Wynne presence as “The Hydro Hustle,” was her taking to the floor in a fitness dance class at a Toronto community centre to the tinny sounds of “Despacito.”, Come to think of it, Justin Bieber’s duo-lingo remix of the smash hit may hold a wishful mantra for Wynne: “Come on over in my direction/So thankful for that, it’s such a blessin, yeah.”. They have gotten darker. That means: If you do not see your comment posted immediately it is being reviewed by our moderation team and may appear shortly. There she was, cutting a sharp figure on ice skates, a child in tow. Read our, I'm a print subscriber, link to my account, Read more about following topics and authors. This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff. Kathleen Wynne started off as premier with enormous goodwill. “We had 124 great candidates, and they were working their hearts out, and their teams were working so hard. This article was published more than 2 years ago. “To me, that’s what life is about. In some key ways, Wynne still is that person, that leader. What she doesn’t often say is that she’s up against something almost unbeatable in politics — a yearning for change in government. Here she is again, cooking up a storm at an Indian restaurant — “Are we cutting slices?” asks Wynne, the helpful sous chef. At this point, I am hearing from many, many senior and experienced Progressive Conservatives that Doug Ford may well win this thing. Not just in the polls, but at the door, as people sound off to candidates about their dislike of her. I hated to disappoint them. ”, in my opinion, bad decisions Ford well. 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