Ontario Liberal leaders look foolish with pitch for Green's Schreiner

[spaminator]

Ontario Liberal leaders look foolish with pitch for Green's Schreiner
Mike Schreiner is many things, but he's not a centrist Liberal

Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Jan 30, 2023 • 3 minute read

A good portion of the Ontario Liberal Party’s brain trust have shown that they have no brains and can’t be trusted.


Over the weekend, 40 top Liberals, including former MPPs and cabinet ministers, issued an open letter asking Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to come lead the Liberals.


Worse still, this foolish move was reported in the Toronto Star before the letter was made public along with Schreiner saying no to the idea for the second time.

“I have no plans to run for Liberal leader. And nobody’s made the case for me to change my mind,” Schreiner told the Star last week.

It is the same answer he gave in December when this idea was floated and still this group of formidable Liberals went forward and asked Schreiner to switch parties. Imagine being one of the existing Liberal contenders – there are four – and finding out some of the top names in the party looked around at who was running and decided what the Grits really need is a leader from another party.


It would be easy to dismiss this as just some party activists making a mistake if the names attached to the letter weren’t some of the biggest names in recent provincial Liberal history.

Deb Matthews, who served as deputy premier from 2013-19, Greg Sorbara, the finance minister under Dalton McGuinty, Lyn McLeod, who was party leader in the 90s, Kate Graham, who finished third in the last party leadership race, and Lucille Collard, a current Liberal MPP from Ottawa.

Collard’s decision to sign the letter might make the rather small Liberal caucus meetings awkward, two of the other seven Liberal MPPs – Mitzie Hunter and Ted Hsu – are putting together leadership bids. They shouldn’t count on Collard’s vote — she wants a leader who has no history with the Liberal Party.


“It reads like a suicide note,” Sun columnist Warren Kinsella said on his podcast over the weekend.

Kinsella, who ran the Ontario Liberal war room for McGuinty’s three successful elections, said this move hurts his former party going forward.

“They’ve given an unexpected and significant boost to the fortunes of the Ontario Green Party, and I think put a knife in any prospect of an Ontario Liberal resurgence,” Kinsella said.

Flavio Volpe, a well-known figure in the auto industry, previously spent years as a top staffer at Queen’s Park including serving as chief of staff to the economic development minister. He says this move shows a real problem in the Ontario Liberal Party, that there is no succession culture to generate new leaders.


“So, the old guard wants to skip the generation of Ontario Liberals that served them to back someone from outside to lead them where?” Volpe asked. “This is the main reason the Ontario Libs are in the toilet.”

Political commentator and former Liberal staffer Sharan Kaur recommended that the people signing the letter just leave the Liberal fold.

“I welcome each and every person who has signed this ridiculous letter to join the Ontario Green Party,” Kaur tweeted.

That might be the best move for these people because by saying that they want Schreiner, these people have said they don’t want the once mighty Liberal brand. The party just went through an election post-mortem that, among other things, called for a return to the party being centrist.

Mike Schreiner is many things, but he’s not a centrist Liberal – not on the environment, not on other issues.

Part of the problem for the Ontario Liberals is that they no longer know who they are. They have adopted the progressive label so whole-heartedly that they have forgotten that they also used to represent moderate, middle-of-the-road, centrist voters.

They’ve abandoned those voters and as we’ve seen over the past two elections, those voters have abandoned the Ontario Liberals.

This move won’t bring those voters back.

blilley@postmedia.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619758227834691585

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619436161956720640

KINSELLACAST 246: Lilley, Adler, Mraz, Kheiriddin – plus: RIP Television’s Tom Verlaine

Musings

warrenkinsella.com

Martin Regg Cohn: 10 reasons why Mike Schreiner should think before swapping Green for Grits

A gaggle of former movers and retired shakers from Ontario’s once-mighty Liberals are pleading and wheedling with him to seek their party’s leadership, writes Martin Regg Cohn.

thestar.com

DraftMike.ca - Open Letter

Dear Mike Schreiner: We are a group of Ontario Liberals who are deeply concerned about the state of politics in Ontario, and more broadly, about the future of our province and our country. We know we are not alone. Millions of Ontarians share these concerns. And they feel increasingly alienated

draftmike.ca

LILLEY: Ontario Liberal leaders look foolish with pitch for Green's Schreiner

The once mighty Ontario Liberals are looking foolish as a group of party stalwarts try to recruit Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

torontosun.com

 

[The_Foxer]

that party is seriously imploding. Doug might well win a third term at this rate. The ndp aren't exactly wowing anyone either. I think people are just getting so sick of woke that it's not just not worth voting for, it's actually repulsive.

 

[spaminator]

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner not ruling out Liberal leadership bid
Schreiner has previously dismissed the idea, but now appears to be mulling it over.

Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Allison Jones
Published Jan 31, 2023 • 2 minute read

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner isn’t ruling out a bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.


The party has been without a permanent leader since Steven Del Duca stepped down last year following a devastating election loss — the party’s second such result in a row.


Several Liberals have publicly said they’re exploring a run at the top job, including MP and former Ontario cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi, MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and current Ontario Liberal caucus member Ted Hsu.

But a group of Liberals — including former cabinet ministers Deb Matthews and Liz Sandals, and current Liberal caucus member Lucille Collard — released a letter Sunday urging Schreiner to join the party and run for the leadership.

“Our party needs to rediscover a politics of purpose and principle. We need to reach out to a new generation of voters. We need to open up to new people and new ideas and to embrace the kind of energy and enthusiasm that is driving grassroots activism and engagement across the province,” the Liberal group wrote.


“And that’s why we’re turning to you … We believe that your strong principle-based approach and your ability to connect and motivate activists — especially young people — is exactly what our party and province need now.”

The Liberal group argued that as Liberal leader, Schreiner would have a broader platform to rally Ontarians on issues he cares about such as climate change and the environment.

Schreiner has previously dismissed the idea, but now appears to be mulling it over.

“I received a serious letter from people who expressed concerns I share about the current government and the need for urgent action on the climate crisis,” he wrote in a statement Monday evening.

“They have reached out across party lines in a unique way in the spirit of doing politics differently. So, I’m going to ask people to give me time to think about their arguments.”


Schreiner said he has no ambition to lead any party other than the Greens, but first wants to get thoughts from his Guelph constituents, his family, friends and colleagues.

The letter and companion DraftMike.ca website are not going over well with some Liberals.

Erskine-Smith wrote on Twitter that purpose and principle are indeed needed, along with “serious renewal” in the party.

“But we don’t need gimmicks, open letters, or Hail Marys,” he wrote. “There is no substitute for hard work and grassroots engagement. We need serious leadership. For a change.”

Schreiner has been the leader of the Ontario Greens since 2009 and in 2018 won the party’s first seat in the legislature.

His performance in the 2022 election debate was widely praised and he is well liked at the legislature, but despite the party’s high hopes of winning a second seat in that election, the Greens remain a caucus of one.

Schreiner grew up on a farm in the U.S. and later moved to Canada with his wife, now residing in Guelph with his family. He has said his background as a small-business owner and in the non-profit sector helped him build the skills to build the Ontario Greens into a “viable party” over the last decade or so.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner not ruling out Liberal leadership bid

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner isn't ruling out a bid for the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Bid to woo Schreiner will likely end in tears for Ontario's Liberals and Greens
The idea that Schreiner would help propel the Liberals to victory with his star power isn’t supported by facts.

Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Jan 31, 2023 • 3 minute read

Mike Schreiner is considering taking a run at the Ontario Liberal leadership as the once mighty party frantically searches for relevance.


Schreiner, the Green Party leader, had twice said no to the idea of seeking the top job with the Liberals — now he says he’ll ponder awhile.


That pondering could do damage to both parties rather than help them.

Schreiner said that he believes “Ontario needs bold, decisive action to stop the Ford government” from dismantling the province. While he says he only ever wanted to lead the Green Party, he’s received a serious offer from some serious Liberals.

“They have reached out across party lines in a unique way in the spirit of doing politics differently. So, I’m going to ask people to give me time to think about their arguments,” Schreiner said Monday.

He wants to hear from his constituents in Guelph and Green Party members, many of whom will no doubt be annoyed at the prospect of their leader jumping ship.

The move to “Draft Mike” has already caused a rift inside the Liberal Party with many saying it reeks of desperation. It’s also viewed as an insult to the four existing candidates – Mitzie Hunter and Ted Hsu who are both MPPs in the Ontario Liberal caucus and Yasir Naqvi and Nathaniel Erskine Smith who are both sitting Liberal MPs on Parliament Hill.

“We do need purpose and principle in our politics, just as we a need serious renewal for the Ontario Liberal Party,” Erskine-Smith said in response to the letter, “but we don’t need gimmicks, open letters, or Hail Marys.”



He said politics can be done differently and people can work across party lines as a Liberal but said there are no shortcuts to rebuilding the party, an obvious shot at the idea of recruiting Schreiner.

One “old Liberal” who supports this idea and didn’t like my take on it reached out via email to explain his rationale. Greg Sorbara, a long-time party organizer and fundraiser as well as finance minister under Dalton McGuinty, said people changing parties isn’t something that should be punished.

“The party system is simply an organizational structure through which citizens participate in the public life of the province. Changing parties is often a way to enhance that participation,” Sorbara wrote.

Sorbara said that he and the other 39 signatories of the letter to draft Schreiner believe there are viable candidates already within the party but believe Schreiner is the best chance to defeat Ford’s Conservatives in the next election.


That’s where this argument falls apart.

Schreiner’s electoral record is not great and like most leaders of fringe parties, he’s well known among politicos but not the general public. The idea that Schreiner would help propel the Liberals to victory with his star power isn’t supported by facts.

The Greens picked up 279,000 votes across Ontario in June’s election compared to 1.1 million for the Ontario Liberals. Steven Del Duca was closer to overtaking Doug Ford’s PCs that Schreiner’s Greens were to overtaking the Liberals in the popular vote.

Over the years, Schreiner, party of one, hasn’t increased the Green vote tally as much as he should have given his profile. He’s a likeable, affable guy, quick with a quote, and he has a good media game, but from 2018 to 2022 the Green vote across the province increased by just 15,000.

This at a time when progressive voters driven by environmental issues were very distrustful of Ford and weren’t seeing inspiring leadership in the other two parties. If Schreiner had boosted the Green vote substantially in the last election, this move might make sense.

Instead, it’s a desperate play that will likely only end in tears for both parties while Doug Ford sits back and smiles.

blilley@postmedia.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619782438271729664

LILLEY: Bid to woo Schreiner will likely end in tears for Ontario's Liberals and Greens

Ontario's Green leader now says he'll consider running for the Ontario Liberal leadership. It's a move that won't end well for either party.

torontosun.com

 

[harrylee]

Schreiner seems to be a pretty smart guy. If he really is smart, he will stay away from the libs. He seems to get better exposure right where he is.

 

[spaminator]

Schreiner's dithering on Liberal leadership offer looks bad all around
It shouldn't take two weeks to decide if you want to leave one political party for the next

Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Feb 10, 2023 • 3 minute read

Is Mike Schreiner just having us on now?


Surely, the Green Party Leader has had plenty of time to consider whether he’s jumping ship for another party.


Well, if Schreiner has made up his mind, he’s not telling us.

It was about two weeks ago news broke in the Toronto Star that a group of esteemed and at one-point powerful Ontario Liberals were signing an open letter asking Schreiner to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership. Schreiner was even quoted in the story rejecting the idea before the letter was even sent to him or made public.

“We believe that your strong principle-based approach and your ability to connect and motivate activists – especially young people – is exactly what our party and province need now,” read the letter signed by 40 Liberals.

The idea was widely ridiculed, including by other top Liberals, but the group proceeded anyway. They released the letter on Jan. 29 and by Jan. 30 Schreiner released a statement saying he would think about it.


“They have reached out across party lines in a unique way in the spirit of doing politics differently. So, I’m going to ask people to give me time to think about their arguments,” Schreiner said.



As I write this, on the afternoon of Feb. 10, Shriner still hasn’t committed either way. A question sent to the media contact for the Green Party of Ontario came back with a response that there was no news.

“No, nothing to report yet,” the party replied.

Does it really take two weeks to respond to a marriage proposal?


I thought this idea was ridiculous from the start and wrote a column nearly two weeks ago saying that this would end in tears for both parties. That seems more likely now than when I first wrote it.

One of Schreiners’ main selling points is that he is seen as a man of integrity. Now, after thinking about leaving one party for another for nearly two weeks, he truly seems like just another transactional politician in it for himself.

If he leaves the Greens and seeks the leadership of the Ontario Liberal party, then Schreiner will have to participate in the kind of brokerage politics that big tent parties are accustomed to but that neither he nor the Greens have to deal with. If he doesn’t seek the Liberal leadership at this point, then he’s just been having everybody on for the past two weeks.


Can any of us take him, or the group of Liberals who tried to recruit him, seriously again?

One of the main problems for the Ontario Liberals over the last several years is that they have been indistinguishable from the other opposition parties. Voters want a party that offers them a choice, a value proposition that they can relate to.

While Doug Ford campaigned on “getting it done” and building infrastructure, the Liberals, NDP and Greens all sounded the same. There were days when all three parties would put out news releases that could have easily come from one another.

Ford had a clear vision and he won handily.

The Ontario Liberals should be looking to offer clear alternative to Ford. Instead, with this debacle, a number of would-be party stalwarts have tied themselves to the Greens. It’s a mess of epic proportions that has already caused a divide within the party.

As for Schreiner, he needs to make up his mind, be clear with voters on which party he is leading and which one he wants to lead.

His dithering isn’t helping anyone.

blilley@postmedia.com

LILLEY: Schreiner's dithering on Liberal leadership offer looks bad all around

Is Mike Schreiner just having us on now?

torontosun.com

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Actually, if he is planning on staying with the greens, his dithering continues to make the rival Liberals look bad.

 

[The_Foxer]

Is Mike Schreiner just having us on now?

Well.... nobody including me knew who the hell this guy was 2 weeks ago. Now everyone does. So i'm going to go with 'having you on for two weeks of free publicity and will probably continue as long as you do".

 

[spaminator]

Mike Schreiner will not cross floor to Liberals

"We need strong Green voices at Queen's Park to remain focused on the need for climate action"

Author of the article:Antonella Artuso
Published Feb 21, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will not cross the floor to join the Liberal Party.

Schreiner confirmed Tuesday that he plans to stay in his current role, despite being approached last month about a possible run for the leadership of the Liberal Party.

“I’ve no regrets whatsoever,” Schreiner said. “I received a letter from 40 people who I respect that talked about how progressive parties might work differently, and I felt I owed it to the people of Ontario to consider a different option … After that consultation with my constituents in Guelph, people across the province, it became very clear to me that the best way that I can make a difference is as the Ontario Green leader.”

Some Liberals, including former provincial cabinet ministers, had been urging Schreiner to run to be the permanent leader of the party, a position that has been vacant since former leader Steven Del Duca resigned after an election loss last June.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said he looks forward to a competitive competition for the new leader.

“I have gotten to know Mike Schreiner over the last 4 1/2 half years, and we have worked well together,” Fraser said in a statement. “I am not in any way surprised by his decision. I will continue to work collaboratively with Mike to hold the Ford Conservatives to account.”

The Green Party leader holds a seat in the legislature and is known as an effective critic of the Doug Ford government’s policies, sharing many values with both the opposition Liberals and NDP.



“So many people have talked to me, across all political stripes, about the importance of democratic reform and electoral cooperation,” Schreiner said. “So we can actually have a legislature that reflects the democratic will of the people of Ontario because right now we have a premier that was elected with less than 18% of eligible voters doing things like privatizing health care, threatening our Greenbelt farm lands and wetlands and moving the province in a direction that the people of Ontario do not support.”

However, a late-to-the-party leader did not sit well with many Liberals.

One of the proposed amendments to the party’s constitution, to be considered at its annual meeting in Hamilton on March 3-5, would require a leadership candidate to have been a member of the party since Jan. 1 of the year the leadership convention was called.

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter said she is pushing for a one-member, one-vote process to elect the new leader instead of a delegated convention.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628048157723570177

BETTER GREEN THAN GRIT: Mike Schreiner will not cross floor to Liberals

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says he won't cross floor to join Liberals.

torontosun.com

 

[Taxslave2]

I don’t see why they would want to get rid of Ford anyway. He inherited a lot of disasters that still need fixing.