Andrea Horwath’s time as leader of the New Democratic Party of Ontario is coming to an end.
Horwath has announced that he will step down from his 13-year tenure during his inaugural address in Hamilton on Thursday evening following another defeat in the provincial election.
“My commitment to you will never waver and I will continue to work to earn your trust every day. I will continue to do so. But tonight, it is time to pass the torch, to pass the baton, to deliver the leadership. of the NDP, “said an emotional Horwath.
“And you know what, it makes me sad, but it makes me happy because our team is very strong right now.”
Horwath said that although his party did not win, as an official opposition, the NDP will be ready to fight “Doug Ford’s cuts.”
“I’m not shedding tears of sadness. I’m shedding tears of pride. Look at you. Look at you all. Look at what we’ve done together,” he said.
“I can assure you, Ontarians, that as an official opposition, we will work hard every day to fix what matters most to the people of our province of Ontario. Do you know why? Do you know why we will do this job? “Priorities have been our priorities before the election. And they were our priorities during the elections. And they will be our priorities after the elections because that’s how we are the new Democrats,” Horwath added.
CTV News predicts that Horwath’s NDP will take second place in the polls, meaning his party will once again form the official opposition. Doug Ford will be re-elected Prime Minister of Ontario, with his Conservative Progressive Party projected to win a second majority government.
The results of Thursday’s election were not surprising, as some polls had predicted a similar result.
For Horwath, who was competing to lead Ontario for the fourth time, the results were not what he expected after his party’s strong performance four years ago.
At the start of the election campaign, the NDP was in a strong position with dozens of incumbents and party coffers full.
However, the NDP was unable to increase momentum during the four-week campaign in which Horwath tested positive for COVID-19 at one point, prompting it to briefly move its policy online. Polls predicted that the party was not in the race to form a government, but was fighting for second place with the Liberals.
And while it looked like it won that battle on Thursday, the NDP will return to Queen’s Park with fewer seats than it had when it disbanded. CTV News projected that the Grits will have third-party status at Queen’s Park.
In 2018, the new Democrats won 40 of the 124 seats in the provincial parliament, the largest since 1990, when Bob Rae’s NDP formed a majority government.
Unofficial results as of 11pm show that the party is elected or led in 31 constituencies. In Brampton, the NDP was unable to maintain its three seats.
In Toronto, the party was expected to lose two of the 11 seats it won four years ago. The York South-Weston entourage will be represented by a PC MPP for the first time with Ford’s nephew, former councilor Michael Ford. The Liberals took the other Toronto horse, Beaches-East York, which will be served by Mary-Margaret McMahon, also a former city councilor.
Many political experts believe that this year’s election is Horwath’s last chance to become prime minister, and any result other than this could mean the end of his time as NDP leader.
The 59-year-old became the party’s first female leader when she was elected in 2009. Despite finishing third in her first two NPD leadership elections, Horwath survived the leadership revisions. He was credited with growing party support culminating in 2018, when the NDP garnered more than 1.9 million votes.
Horwath is expected to win his Hamilton Center riding, which he has been performing since 2007.