[LINK] "What’s Next for Ontario Politics (We Hope)"

[rfmcdonald]

I rather liked Christopher Bird and Hamutal Dotan's Torontoist essay advising the three major political parties--the Liberals with their majority, the Progressive Conservatives after their weakening, and the NDP left remarkably intact--what they can do to reenergize themselves and democracy here in Ontario.

Ontario has elected, in defiance of most predictions, a Liberal majority. We will have four years of stable government, and Kathleen Wynne will have the chance to show us the kind of premier she really wants to be—as opposed to the cagier kind many think she has been until now, fighting to keep her minority government alive. If Wynne has been holding back—if, as many progressives and urbanists hope, she has been restraining herself on some issues (ranging from Toronto transit to sex-ed policy)—now she will have the chance to pursue those issues more aggressively.

The outcome is useful, in this way, for the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives as well: they each have the opportunity to define themselves more clearly. Free of the hedging that comes with minority governments, the Liberals can define themselves by their governance; the NDP and Tories can do so by the nature of their opposition, and in their approach to rebuilding their respective parties.