10 thoughts on the Ontario Liberal Party AGM this weekend

I’m on the train on my way back to Ottawa for the return of Parliament after spending the weekend in Toronto for the Ontario Liberal Party Annual General Meeting. And before my train even left the station I needed to come up with 10 new thoughts. Life moves pretty fast. Unlike my delayed train.

1.      1. No one won today. Not the Crombie loyalists. Not the Nate-stans or New Leafers. Not the OLP rank and file. And not Ontarians that want a credible alternative to Ford. Rebuilding will be on hold yet another round of leadership drama. So maybe Doug Ford and Marit Stiles won.

2.      2. Crombie had no choice. The artificial bar set by the New Leafers was silly. But realistically, she needed over 60%. Under that, it would be challenging. Without a united caucus, it would be impossible. Caucus wasn’t united. Credit to her for recognizing it fairly quickly. Her position had become untenable. She’ll stay on until a new leader is picked. John Fraser is sparred a third interim leadership.

3.      3. I heard a lot of talk this weekend about early nominations. They are important. They’re not going to happen this cycle. Sure, you could open things up during a leadership race. But how do you get serious people to invest the time and the money in a run when they don’t know who their leader is going to be?

4.    4.  If this leadership isn’t going to be a wasted year or more, we need the party executive to step up. We have a huge executive, and they have not been as active as they could or should be for years. The workI’ve argued really needs to happen doesn’t need to wait for a leader. The president and her team need to start now with rebuilding dormant riding associations, building up local organizational and fundraising capacity, and recruiting and training campaign workers and managers. And our two relatively new commissions – Seniors, and Rural and Northern – have important  work to do too. This work can’t wait. Rebuild that big red machine so the new leader can hit the ground running. It’s not easy, but they need to run a leadership and a rebuild at the same time.

5.      5. Lots of people will take credit for what happened this weekend. In my last post, I posited Crombie had two opposition groups: the Nate loyalists and the Liberals who believe governing is our manifest destiny. I believe it’s the latter group that were the silent plurality of those that voted Yes for a leadership review. They are frustrated with three straight election losses. I share their frustration. But if they don’t step up to be part of the rebuild, we’ll all be back here in the same place in four years.

6.      6. Let’s not overlook the good Crombie did. She increased our vote. She raised a lot of money. She grew our caucus and got us back to official party status. She rescued the party from near oblivion and left a strong base for her successor to build on. We saw early fruits of that work with a well-run convention this weekend.

7.     7. Let’s not overlook the bad of the Crombie era. There’s lots. But I will highlight a few. Biggest of all, she had a weak core team that were poor organizers, made bad decisions, and didn’t see an election coming that everyone else in the province saw coming a mile away. There is no excuse for how poorly prepared the party entered that election. And these were a lot of the same people that have been in these roles since the McGuinty years. This party needs a new generation of competent organizational leadership around the next leader.

8.   8.  Can we get Brian Gallant to take up residency here? His speech was great. It was a clear call for compassionate and progressive Liberal values. He clearly has national ambitions. Carney needs to bring him into the fold.

9.      9.The texts and WhatsApps are already burning up with leadership speculation. Navdeep Bains. Jeff Lehman. Probably Nate. Probably a surprise or two. If Bains runs, he will run away with it. If he doesn’t run, It’s wide-open. But I know who I won’t be voting for.

10.  10. I can’t end without a food review. The OLP hands-down beats the federal party when it comes to feeding their convention attendees. Great spread for lunch on Saturday. Two salads, pasta, haddock, chicken, two deserts, soup and bread. At federal biennials, I don’t recall any free food outside the Laurier lounge.

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My pragmatic OLP leadership take that will probably make everyone upset

I have been confirmed as a voting delegate from Ottawa Centre for the upcoming Ontario Liberal Party annual meeting in Toronto, and I will be voting against a leadership review. Not because I think Bonnie Crombie has done an amazing job – in fact, I have a long list of issues– but because I think dumping the leader again and again and expecting different results without doing any of the hard rebuilding work needed is the definition of insanity, and would ensure Doug Ford rule until he gets tired of pretending to be Premier.

Let’s start with Crombie. I ended up voting for her after my initial pick dropped out, and she was the more electable of the candidates on offer. The others left standing were worse choices. And the arguments for her were compelling: Liberal credentials but an OLP outsider, a proven fundraiser, and someone who could help win back the Blue Liberals that we need to win back in areas like Peel and York regions.

Did she deliver? Some yes, lots of no.

Pros: she raised a lot of money. I was a deputy campaign manager in a swing riding where we came up just short; the centre provided a lot of support in calling and IDs.  The size of caucus increased sharply, we regained official party status, and the resources that comes with have allowed for more resources that will pay dividends in the years ahead. Our caucus has always punched above its weight and now, with more resources and strong new MPPs, it continually outshines the NDP’s performative opposition. And we got a helluva lot more votes – it just wasn’t as efficient as we would have liked.

Cons: She lost her own seat. Yes, Patrick Brown sent in half of Brampton to campaign for his mother-in-law and against Crombie. But a loss is a loss and this was embarrassing. On taking the leadership, she brought in a lot of the same old people that have been running things back to McGuinty. I voted for renewal and she delivered more of the same. The scramble to find candidates for an election that it seemed obvious everyone knew was coming was a major organizational failure. The central campaign lacked focus and organization.

So, why not vote for a new leadership process? Because doing so would not address any of the things that are wrong with out party. The problem with the OLP isn’t Bonnie Crombie. It wasn’t Steven Del Duca either. I voted for Michael Coteau and I couldn’t stand Del Duca’s vests, but I don’t think Coteau would have done any better than he did.

The problem is that successive leaders have allowed the party apparatus to atrophy. Riding associations have gone dormant. We got used to being in government and being sent policy and organizers and messaging and campaign managers from on high. We stopped grassroots organizing, we stopped building the capacity at the riding and the regional level so that there were teams and organization ready to go locally when the writ is dropped.

That’s the responsibility of the leader, yes. And the party executive – they have largely escaped responsibility here. And the party grassroots. There is no big red machine. It’s each of us committing to the party’s renewal and revival. That is where the renewal needs to take place.

So I’m supporting Crombie, albeit reluctantly. Not because I am convinced she has recognized the problem. But because it we dump the leader (again) it guarantees that for two years we will be focused on leadership shenanigans instead of what really ails the OLP.

Can she pull this out? Maybe. But I haven’t seen the things I would want to see from her yet. Namely, a fulsome mea culpa on the 2025 campaign and her shortcomings, a recognition of the deeper organizational issues with the party, and a commitment to change.

I would put her opposition into two categories, and here is where I will upset the other half of the party. Half are diehard Liberals who view government as our manifest destiny and any election short of government as a failure. I think she can win them over with the recognitions I have outlined – a recognition of the problems and a plan to fix them, building on a stronger base thanks to the 2025 results.

The other opposition group are the Nathaniel Erskine-Smith acolytes who never got over him not winning the leadership and have always viewed Crombie, despite her long history in Liberal politics well pre-dating his, as a Conservative plant. These folks will not be dissuaded from their position. And for all the reasons I put him last on my ballot for OLP leader last time, he is not the answer to anything this time.

So that’s where I land. I am voting for a slim hope for renewal versus the guarantee of two years of no chance of real renewal because another leadership race will not solve what’s really wrong.

Back when the federal party was deep in the woods, as a leadership candidate, Justin Trudeau astutely made the point that the party could not rely on his personal charisma or family name to rebuild the party – it would take hope and hard work and collective effort by everyone. He did end up being a bit of a messiah anyways but his point was bang on.

As Liberals, we have a habit of investing all the credit for our successes and responsibility for our failures with  the leader. And sometimes you get lucky, whether its with the son of a popular former Prime Minister born on Christmas Day, or a former central banker arriving on the scene when the US is declaring economic war.

But other times, you have a nice guy from Vaughan with a penchant for sweater vests or a lady from Mississauga trying her best. It’s not fair to expect them to carry us. Yes, we need to hold our leaders accountable. But we need to hold ourselves accountable as well.

Hope and hard work can’t just be a slogan.

 

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Eating on the Road: Summerlicious at Aria Ristorante in Toronto

It's Summerlicious season in Toronto, when local restaurants offer a prix fixe menu to entice new patrons to give them a try. As Summerlicious coincided with my recent trip to the constituency, I booked a dinner at Aria Restorante with a friend to have a nice elevated Italian meal a short walk from my arriving train next to Union Station.

Frankly, the bevy of options and menus available through Summerlicious can be dizzying and overwhelming -- even when narrowing by cuisine and geography. I narrowed it down to a few, and Aria won out thanks to their inclusion of local, seasonal ingredients.

I went back and forth in the days leading up to my dinner, but ended up deciding to err on the light side after a heavy lunch of veal meatloaf on the VIA trip down to Toronto.

Aria is an open and modern looking space at 25 York Street at Bremner, right next to Maple Lead Square or Jurassic Park or whatever they're calling it at the moment. It was not busy at all for our 7PM reservation on a Wednesday night, and they kindly offered their closet to store my suitcase and backpack during the meal.

Their Summerlicious menu is priced at $75 for a three-course dinner; on a higher end but suited to the offerings and the location. These were the three choices for the starter; while the lobster was interesting I had locked into the burrata pretty early.

And with my decision to stick to the lighter side, the burrata is what I went with.

I was happy with my choice. It was plated beautifully, and the peaches were a particular standout, fresh and juicy and with a nice char from the grill that added another flavour element. The hot honey added a nice bit of heat, present but not overwhelming. At least for me; a decade of regular exposure to South Asian cuisine has ramped up my spice tolerance. But all in all, very tasty. 

For the main, I had been locked in on the fish, but the desire to have a lighter meal led be towards the pasta -- I have never been a duck guy so that was never really under consideration. But the pasta sounded delicious while being a bit lighter.

Again plated beautifully, I was really entice by the Ontario corn, both creamed and kerneled. The pasta was delicate and flavourful, and the portion was just right. And the bacon was a nice touch, although I presume it would have bee excluded if ordered as the vegetarian option.  

For desert, I had earlier been tempted by the Meringa alla Pesche, but as I got my peach fix earlier with the burrata I went with the Crostata di Noci.

It was good. A reasonable portion nicely plated, sweet and tasty. But it didn't rise to the level of the other two courses. I would have liked a flavoured gelato, maybe pecan to complement the tart. Still, a tasty end to the meal.

Not pictured, a tasty glass of a BC Merlot (so nice to find a BC wine on the menu in Ontario) and a very tasty rum and prosecco cocktail that packed a wallop.

The only down note on Aria was that you need to go out into the lobby of the office building and use a code to enter the washroom. Seems an odd design choice for a space of this caliber.

But all in all, an excellent meal.

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Eating on the Hill: Ending the session with lunch at the Parliamentary Restaurant

I do miss the old Parliamentary Restaurant on the top floor of Centre Block. It was such an elegant space steeped in history. 

And the highlight as a staffer was the Friday buffets where, for around $20, they would have a great selection of all you can eat hot and hold dishes. Often, there was a theme. They did each of the provinces one year, with regional specialties. You always had to make a reservation to get a seat, as it was a popular ticket.

With Centre Block closed, the buffets sadly are no more. They have a very nice, if lacking in natural light, spot in the basement of West Block, but unfortunately it's not large enough to recreate the buffet.

Still, it's a nice space, the restaurant staff are still great, and they tend to have tasty Canadian food on offer, albeit at a premium over the cafeteria down the hall. And seeing that that seem to have recently refreshed the menu, the team dropped in for lunch before the House rose for the summer.

I started with the special, which was a very tasty seafood chowder. It was hearty and flavourful. And it was a full bowl, it was just too delicious I was well into it before I remembered to snap a photo.

I have often had the seafood entrees here as they do a good job. I remember one time having a very tasty Ontario pickerel in a beurre blanc that was on special. While there was a fish dish and a shrimp and scallop dish that were tempting options, I ended up going for the beef striploin.

It was served with cheddar and chives croquette balls with broccolini and mushrooms in a jus. I think that tipped it from seafood to beef for me were the potatoes, and they delicious -- crispy outside, creamy inside. The veg was also good, but the beef was both overcooked (more medium-well than the medium-rare I ordered) and lukewarm, like it had been sitting there for awhile.

Looking at my colleagues perfectly cooked scallops, I definitely had order envy.

Thankfully, desert ended the meal on a high note.

I love chocolate and raspberry together, and so the salted chocolate cream tart with coconut raspberry whip and raspberry splash was the easy choice. A tasty sweet treat to end the meal, and not too large a portion.

Next time I'll stick with the seafood.

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Reviewing the noshes at the Laurier Club summer thingy

It's garden party season in Ottawa. And while there's usually no garden, there are usually nibbles. As there was on Monday as Liberal Party donors gathered at the Canadian War Museum.

It was packed and the mood was ebullient, a start contrast to the mood at the Holiday party just six months ago across the river at the Canadian Museum of History. This meant Liberal fortunes have improved, and food lines would probably be longer.

Thankfully though, the lines were just at the bars and I was able to make the food rounds easily. There were pass appies and the usual charcuterie on offer, but I'll focus on the three food stations.

Up first was the bao station. At first, I was told it would be tofu bao and I was displeased. Then, that was corrected -- hey, there's also fried chicken -- and like Liberal poll numbers since February, my spirits were immediately lifted. 

The bao was fresh, the veggies crisp, and the fried chicken crunchy and juicy. A bit messy with the sauce, but delicious nonetheless.

After finishing my first glass of wine (a light pour, to be fair) I went off to find the source of what I thought, based on a discarded empty bowl, would be a risotto station. But I would soon learn that on offer was actually Ahi Tuna Poke bowls.

I was faced with a dilemma because I have always turned my nose up at tuna. I like fish, but the smell of tuna always put me off. It was put to me recently though that that's canned tuna, and I should try the higher end and fresh variety. So I decided to take a shot.

This was raw tuna, but just little bits and mixed with other things. I tried it. No off putting smell. Not saying I'm going to suddenly start eating sushi. But with sticky rice, fancy mayo and veg, this worked.

Venturing outside to refresh my wine as the outside bar was far more accessible, I found that there was a chip truck offering poutine. In the interest of food review science, I had to give it a try.

I liked the green onions, the gravy was fine, and the fries were shoestring -- regular readers will know I don't care for potato-heavy fries. My one note would be the curds. While there was plenty, I think they could have been fresher. Curd aficionados will know the freshest curds are squeaky when chewed. That was missing here. But as far as poutine goes, it was fine.

So my rankings would be in the order I ate them actually: bao, then poke bowl, then poutine.

Wine refreshed, a speech from the leader who filled the room and brightened the vibes, and then it was home to rest up for the next garden party.

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