This is a list of notable individuals and entities who formally provided endorsements to candidates during the 2013 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, or had their expression of support reported in the media. That leadership contest elected Kathleen Wynne as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party at a leadership covnention held in Toronto on January 26, 2013, leading to her becoming the first women premier of Ontario and the first out LGBT first minister in Canada two weeks later on February 11, 2013.
This list only includes individuals who held public elected offices, or individuals/entities of prominence sufficient for their expression of support to be reported by news media. Titles or offices held listed are current as of January 26, 2013.
Endorsements by caucus members
Incumbent provincial caucus As typical in leadership contests of the two main political parties in Canada and other countries with government based on the Westminster model, the public support of the approximately 50 incumbent caucus members were frequently cited in press reports and pundit commentary as indication of organizational strength, making them by default the endorsements most prized by the contestants. An unique additional dynamic for this contest was the fact that it occurred while the party was in power. Endorsements by sitting cabinet ministers received more press coverage, giving them heightened potency in momentum building. Such endorsements also inferred likelihood of significant organizational reinforcement (though not always proven true) and potentially financial support. This was only the second leadership contest held by the Ontario Liberal Party while in power, and the first to take place in normal course.
Pupatello led the pack on this front throughout the campaign, kickstarted the campaign with the endorsement of three cabinet heavyweights, deputy premier and finance minister Dwight Duncan, transportation minister and northern development minister Rick Bartolucci. The prominence of the endorsers immediately placed Pupatello among the top-tier contenders. The endorsements were rich with symbolism. They conveyed support coverage from all corner of the province (with Duncan being from Windsor, Chiarelli from Ottawa, Bartolucci from Sudbury, their endorsements having been released along with three additional MPPs, one each from Thunder Bay, Windsor, Ottawa) and inferred closing of ranks of both supporters and former rivals of the outgoing leader (Duncan's 1996 leadership bid was chaired by Pupatello and was the top former leadership rival of McGuinty remaining in caucus, while Chiarelli was the most senior backer of McGuinty's leadership bid remaining in caucus). She quickly established an insurmountable lead with 11 endorsements from caucus within the first two weeks of campaign launch, and entered the convention with support from 24 sitting Liberal MPPs, including ten of the seventeen incumbent cabinet members.
Pupatello's rival struggled to catch up on this score, together having secured only 20 caucus endorsements among them. Wynne launched her bid with support from labour minister Linda Jeffrey and three other MPPs, and followed with the backing of Attorney General John Gerretsen two days later. Her campaign received its two biggest boost when health minister Deb Matthews, previously seen as a likely contender, announced her endorsement and stepped into the role of campaign chair in late November, and when rival Murray withdrew and throw his support to Wynne days before party members cast their local ballots. She entered the convention with ten caucus supporters, four of them incumbent cabinet ministers. Kennedy's weak showing on this score foreshadowed his lackluster performance in this contest. Unlike his 1996 bid or his 2006 federal leadership bid, both backed by a respectable contingent of prominent incumbent and former caucus members, his 2013 bid received endorsements from only four low-profile perpetual backbenchers. Hoskins was the only other contestant with cabinet endorsement, having secured the backing of and two other relatively newer MPPs. Sousa entered the convention backed by two MPPs, both from Scarborough.
Former caucus members, federal caucus members Beyond the endorsement of incumbent caucus members, the most recognizable and readily quantifiable endorsers were the sitting Liberal MPs representing Ontario electoral districts, and the former Liberal MPPs and MPs in Ontario. Competition for endorsements from these groups were also rigorous in 2013. Sitting Liberal MPs and former MPPs were particularly valuable endorsers as they were voting delegates ex officio those positions, and a good number of them also carry recent ministerial titles. With a few exceptions, the endorsements of former MPPs and former MPs generally received minimal press coverage, if any. The campaigns nonetheless aggressive leveraged these endorsements with certain journalists, on social media and in communications targeting party members, especially those with longer history of engagement.
With the historic defeat suffered by the federal Liberals in the 2011 federal election, however, there were only 11 Liberal MPs in Ontario at the time. Only three of them–John McCallum, Kirsty Duncan and Ted Hsu–provided their endorsements, respectively to Sandra Pupatello, Gerard Kennedy and Kathleen Wynne. Former Liberal MPs were generally not ex officio delegates. Wynne was further endorsed by two incumbent Liberal senators.
Wynne led the pack on securing such party luminaries, having secured the endorsements of 21 former MPPs (including 3 that were also former MPs), 6 additional former MPs. The most prominent among this group were former party leaders Stuart Smith and Lyn MacLeod (MacLeod being the first woman to lead a major party in Ontario), former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps (who was also a former MPP) and prominent federal ministers Bill Graham and David Collenette. Pupatello posted a strong second, with endorsement from 14 former MPPs and two additional MPs, among them were some of the most influential ministers of the Peterson ministry–Bob Nixon, Sean Conway, Elinor Caplan, Murray Elston, and they were join by Jim Bradley who was still in caucus at the time. Kennedy was backed by three original members of the McGuinty ministry, two of them raised much eyebrows. Former deputy premier George Smitherman, the first openly gay member of the Ontario legislature, withheld his support from the first viable openly gay contender, while Joe Cordiano, the 1996 convention kingmaker who clinched the nearly secured victory from Kennedy, opted to offer his support to an erstwhile rival.
Regional dynamic A fundamental premise in leadership contests of the two main parties in Ontario and their federal cousins is equal weighting of input among all electoral districts regardless of membership size or number of votes cast. For that reason, endorsers who had represented or had significant influence in regions the Liberals has not fared well in recent years (and thus had relatively small Liberal Party membership roll) were seen as particularly valuable.
With the Liberals having suffered heavy losses in northern, rural southwestern, and rural eastern Ontario at the most recent election, the endorsements from these regions were particularly sought after and given prominence as they inferred a contestant' capacity in recapturing recently lost grounds. The fact that six of the seven contestants hailed from Toronto or the neighboring Mississauga also put a heightened focus on the contestants' ability to connect with party members and voters beyond the Greater Toronto Area. Wynne, widely seen as the primary challenger to frontrunner and sole non-GTA contender Pupatello, in particular made a concerted push in highlighting endorsements from a wide array of endorsers from outside of the GTA to dispel the perceptions of her appealing to only Toronto urban voters.
Relevance of endorsements The rigorous competition for endorsements during this contest forecasted the first ballot strength of the contenders with reasonably good accuracy. The contest for endorsement was primarily between Pupatello and Wynne, the two frontrunners, with Pupatello leading by a wide margin initially and Wynne closing the gap in later phase of the campaign by securing substantially more endorsements from former MPPs and former MPs than the rest of the contestants. Kennedy's distant third place was also reflected by the comparatively modest and underwhelming list of endorsers compared to his two previous leadership bids. The competition for endorsements however failed to forecast the easily foreseeable strength of Tahkar, who secured a solid fourth place finish by leveraging his extensive network in the South Asian community.
While endorsements from former MPPs and former MPs received substantially less press attention, their organization impact were in some case very apparent, especially in electoral district held by opposition parties. Majority of the "clear wins" secured by any of the contestants could be attributed back to prominent endorsers.
Pupatello secured eight or more delegates (50% or more local support) in 18 districts, 13 of them were held by her caucus supporters, one was leader McGuinty's district, the remain four opposition held district, two where she was endorsed by a former caucus member. Wynne secured eight or more delegates in 16 districts, six of them were held by her caucus supporters (including herself), six were opposition-held districts where she was endorsed by a former MPP or a former MP, the remaining four were opposition-held districts, three of which she had the backing of the most recent Liberal candidates. Sousa secured eight or more delegates in six districts, including all three represented by himself and his two caucus supporters, plus opposition-held Davenport where he was endorsed by local councillor Ana Bailão.
While the endorsement of incumbent caucus members in most cases meant local boosts, the sizes of the boosts varied widely. The boost from GTA caucus endorsements were generally modest compared to those outside of GTA. In areas with large and organized ethno-cultural communities, such as Peel Region or Scarborough, the impact of caucus endorsement were in some case embarrassingly negligible. In some instances, caucus endorsers simply failed to deliver:
Takhar secured eight or more delegates in eight districts, neither his home riding nor the former riding of his only endorser were among them. Among the eight district, three were held by caucus supporters of rivals: Etobicoke North (held by Kennedy supporter Shafiq Qaadri), Mississauga Brampton South (held by Hoskins supporter Amrit Mangat) and Guelph (held by Wynne supporter Liz Sandals) Hoskins secured eight or more delegates in only one district, Haldimand-Norfolk where he grew up, ran federally, and was endorsed by former MP Bob Speller. He however failed to win his own constituency of St. Paul's. Wynne won the district despite having issued communications to encourage her own supporters residing in the district to vote for Hoskins Pupatello won four or less delegates (25% local support or less) in six districts held by her caucus endorsers, including two held by cabinet ministers. Wynne suffered the same fate in three districts held by her supporters, including one held by a cabinet member. Similarly, two of Kennedy's and two of Hoskins caucus endorsers also delivered four or less delegates from their home district, while their other supporters delivered some of the best results for their campaigns.
Endorsements tallies The tallies in the following tables exclude: endorsers who were affiliated with a rival party while in office endorsers represented constituencies outside of Ontario endorsers who were neither MPPs nor MPs