Ontario Liberal leadership race

[King of Kensington]

Haven't seen a thread on this.

A group of Ontario Liberals are trying to recruit Green leader Mike Schreiner to cross the floor and run for the leadership.

https://www.draftmike.ca/

Some big names have signed including former finance minister Greg Sorbara. 

And it sounds like Schreiner is thinking about it:

https://twitter.com/MikeSchreiner/status/1620180527000223745/photo/1

[King of Kensington]

Schreiner might be a good choice if the Ontario Liberals want to become like the Lib Dems in the UK.

[King of Kensington]

The Greens benefitted from very low turnout, a sense that Ford had the election in the bag, and Schreiner's presence in the debate (where he did well).

[King of Kensington]

After Schreiner, the most prominent Green elected official in the province is Toronto city councillor Dianne Saxe.  I believe she had considered running for the Ontario Liberals.

[King of Kensington]

Some are just anti-establishment types who could just as easily vote for a far right populist party

Oh yeah. The mother of a very close buddy of mine is...let's just say, she falls on the 'kooky' end of the spectrum and preoccupies herself with things like GMOs supposedly causing birth defects and things of that nature. She used to be a big supporter of the Green Party then turned into a PPC supporter in 2021. Just one example, but clearly she's not even a 'green' voter in the environmentalist sense, or else she wouldn't vote for a climate denier.

I assume she's an anti-vaxxer and went down the wellness to QAnon pipeline.

Pre-Covid, antivaxxers didn't really have a political home and could be found across the spectrum.  But "wellness" has been a conveyor belt to the far right.

[King of Kensington]

Ottawa South was one of two seats where the OLP won with more than a 10-point margin in the 2018 wipeout. 

It's remarkably similar demographically to Ottawa West-Nepean, but Duverger's Law has worked in the NDP's favor there in the last two elections.

[King of Kensington]

Similar socioeconomically and both semi-suburban in character (similar to North York in Toronto?), but yes Ottawa South is more diverse with Blacks and Arabs being the largest minorities.


University degree

Ottawa West-Nepean  46.8%
Ottawa South  45.1%

Average income

Ottawa West-Nepean  $55,900
Ottawa South  $55,600

Visible Minority

Ottawa South  44.2%
Ottawa West-Nepean  35.2%

[King of Kensington]

How are Jill Andrew's chances in St. Paul's now?