Lots of issues facing Ontario's new Premier after this weekend

By the end of this weekend, Ontario will have a new premier and it is expected to be a woman. Right now Sandra Pupatello is the leader of the race followed by Kathleen Wynne. Which ever of the women win, they will become Ontario’s first woman premier.
In Ontario, 1837 Liberals will cast their vote for the new leader.
Kathleen Wynne is a former Minister of Education having been promoted to that position in 2006. She was first elected to the legislature in 2003. In January of 2010 she became the Minister of Transportation and in 2011, she was appointed minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Sandra Pupatello gave up provincial politics in 2011 prior to the last provincial election. She won her Windsor seat for the first time in 1995.
Sandra Pupatello has held the posts of Minister of Community and Social Services, Minister of Education, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, and Minister of International Trade and Development.
Both women face daunting tasks. They both inherit a minority government that has seen the legislature adjourned for months. And one can almost foretell that we will have a provincial election early this spring.
Ontario continues to fund programs by borrowing money. There are lots of issues brewing in the legislature. Bill 115, Putting Students First, passed in 2012, is a sore point with both elementary and secondary teachers across the province.
One of the big issues the new Ontario premier will face, is how they will deal with the two opposition parties. Andrea Horvath the leader of the New Democrat Party has suggested that a coalition be formed between the Liberal and NDP. While both Liberal candidates have rejected outright any formal agreement, both are prepared to meet with both the Conservative and NDP leaders to discuss programs and legislation to move the province forward. Those meetings will be crucial in determining the future of the government. The new premier will have to listen to the opposition and find ways to bring them on board in setting new directions for the province.
If the new premier can be conciliatory and open to ideas from both opposition parties, then her government will have a longer period of time to govern.
Failing that, opposition leaders will immediately pounce of the new premier and one can expect a vote of confidence to be held as soon as the legislature is called back into session.
The new premier may submit an agenda to the house with a budget. And if history is any reflection, she would immediately go to the Lieutenant Governor and ask to have an election called.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher