Eric Hoskins | Gerard Kennedy Sandra Pupatello | Charles Sousa | Harinder Takhar | | Kathleen Wynne

It took them some time. In fact quite a bit of time. But eventually members of the Wynne camp addressed my concerns about the “ethnic” voting strategy. An apology was issued to those who received the messages, and I personally observed it being sent.

Although nearly every member of the Wynne camp was sympathetic, nobody was able to actually execute action. Mistakes happen. I get it. I like to have them fixed. I like to think emphasizing this issue will highlight to the party the importance of developing effective and accurate communication strategies.

The Premier’s Office has done an excellent job in the past 9 years in building close ties with visible minority communities to help address their unique needs and concerns and building a collaborative relationship with them. Let’s hope the next leader will maintain a vibrant and talented community relations staff to continue this good work.

After the conclusion of the first ballot Dr. Eric Hoskins joined the Wynne camp. Although I attended the convention as an independent media observer, I was selected and had the option to stand as an alternate for Hoskins in Beaches-East York. I know Hoskins from when I lived in St. Paul’s and was involved in the riding association, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him. When he joined Wynne I did not automatically join with him because I’m not formally part of the camp, but it did open up conversations with the Wynne team. To be fair, I spent quite a bit of time talking to Pupatello delegates as well.

Hoskins may have been last on the ballot, and the first out in this race. But he’s a Member that I deeply respect, given his background in clinical health and provision of services in developing countries. One of my pre-law backgrounds was in emergency management and disaster management, so I know how difficult relief work can be. I also know that people who enter this area and actually spend time in the field are not interested in power or padding their resume. They have a level of altruism that we probably need a lot more of in Ontario politics.

Wynne will recall the legislature by Feb. 19, which has been a sticking point for many members of the public. The party needs to preserve this relationship. We do not want to use prorogation for political purposes the way some claim the Federal government has done in recent years.

Wynne’s credentials have always been strong. Resolving this issue allows me to offer my support. But some of her credentials are especially important in resolving what is the most immediate and pressing issue facing the party. There are currently thousands of protesters (estimated 15,000 by the police, and growing) encircling Maple Leaf Gardens, and they are angry.

Wynne has experience as a public school trustee, fighting the cuts to education by Mike Harris. She has been a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education (who was incidentally Gerrard Kennedy), and was Ontario’s Minister of Education from 2006-2010. During this time she created the Minister’s Student Advisory Council, which seeks input from 60 students from Grades 7-12 to improve our school’s system.

Certainly a Minister capable of developing creative solutions to foster student input can presumably do the same for fostering discussions with teachers.

Eric Hoskins | Gerard Kennedy Sandra Pupatello | Charles Sousa | Harinder Takhar | Kathleen Wynne

Slush filled sidewalks are tough enough to traverse first thing in the morning. They’re even more difficult when protesters form a narrow gauntlet to the entrance of Maple Leaf Gardens.

Omar Ha-Redeye speaks to protesters.

Omar Ha-Redeye speaks to protesters.

Teachers are in full force today, despite the cold and the snow. They’re protesting Bill 115, which unilaterally cut pay and benefits for some Ontario teachers. Meaningful collective bargaining, the protesters claim, have not been achieved in this process.

But Bill 115 has been repealed. Leadership candidates have indicated they’re willing to sit at the negotiation table. So why are the protesters still here at the convention?

They’ve lost trust in the process, they say. They don’t trust the government to deal with them in a fair manner. Some are obviously partisan, and would only consider an NDP government. But others here are more principled and identify the issues, not the party as the problem.

The Liberal measures obviously come from financial pressures. Nobody wants to penalize teachers or hurt our education system. In fact Premier McGuinty prided himself on the support of teachers for him, and conversely his emphasis of the education system as a priority. But these are tough times.

The financial crisis though, it should be remembered, did not originate in Ontario. It was a product of subprime mortgages and deregulation of derivatives in the U.S. markets, creating global instability. Canada sheltered this storm better than most because we keep a closer eye on our markets.

What the financial crisis also resulted in was the decline of the Friedman / Chicago School of Economics. The markets do not necessarily correct themselves, and do require governmental intervention. Failure to do so results in greater income inequality, societal instability, and implications well outside state borders.

The alternative has been a return to Keynesian economic theory, requiring active public intervention to correct for variations caused by the private sector. This mixed economy approach actually requires more governmental spending during recessionary periods, and less during surpluses. The rationale is that the economy requires greater public support when it is failing. And one of the biggest investments we can make is in our education system, for the next generation.

Fiscal responsibility is a bedrock of good governance. We don’t want to burden our future generations with the debt of our government’s excesses. “Our generation must be a generation of givers, not takers,” said David Peterson today at the convention.

But we also don’t want to burden the next generation with implications of a substandard or inferior education. That is absolutely the worst economic decision we can make.

Whoever ends up winning the Ontario Liberal Party leadership let’s hope they make these very difficult decisions in conjunction and cooperation with our teachers, who work so hard to ensure our children receive one of the best educations in the world. A quality education is realistically priceless, but there must be ways we can find to efficiently manage the costs within education as well. This is not as simple as just slashing funding, and may require innovative ideas and management strategies to make our great education system even better.

If we’re able to do that we may just be able to bring these protesting teachers into the building as party members next time we have an Ontario Liberal Party convention.