User:Newfoundlander&Labradorian/Sandbox

Leadership

Premier McGuinty announced on October 15, 2012, that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario and premier of the province once his successor was chosen. On November 2, 2012, Wynne resigned her cabinet post and three days later launched her bd for the leadership of the party. Wynne was seen as having the strongest on-the-ground organization among the seven candidates and along with former MPP Sandra Pupatello was one of the frontrunners. She had the most supporters running to be delegates at the convention, with 1,533, and the only candidate to have supporters in place in all 107 of the province's ridings. Days before members were to begin electing delegates Glen Murray announced he was exiting the leadership race and endorsed Wynne's candidacy. Despite running the most supporters for delegate positions Wynne placed second, with 468 delegates, behind Pupatello who had 509 delegates. Pupatello was also believed to have the most support among ex-officio delegates, which are MPPs, MPs, defeated candidates and other Liberal insiders, and was expected to increase her lead over Wynne on the first ballot at the convention.

At the convention on January 26, 2013, Wynne surprised many with her strong speech to delegates. In the speech she discussed repairing relations with teachers, working with opposition parties, and took aim at her main rival Pupatello, who doesn't hold a seat, by saying that she was ready to govern and would recall the legislature on February 19. Wynne also addressed her sexuality saying; "When I ran in 2003, I was told that the people of North Toronto and Thorncliffe Park weren’t ready to elect a gay woman. Well, apparently they were." She went on to say that "I don’t believe the people of Ontario judge their leaders on the basis of race, colour or sexual orientation – I don’t believe they hold that prejudice in their hearts".

When the first ballot results were announced Wynne received 597 votes, trailing Pupatello by only two votes. Eric Hoskins received the fewest votes of the six candidates and was therefore eliminated. Hoskins threw his support behind Wynne while fourth place candidate Harinder Takhar announced he was endorsing Pupatello. On the second ballot Pupatello's lead grew to 67 votes over Wynne. Takhar, who's name was left on the second ballot, finished last and was eliminated from the race. Gerard Kennedy and Charles Sousa, who finished third and fourth respectively, withdrew from the race and both endorsed Wynne. With the support of both Kennedy and Sousa, her win was all but guaranteed on the third ballot. When the results of that ballot were announced Wynne received 57 per cent of the votes compared to 43 per cent for Pupatello.

Public opinion

Opinion polls originally showed very high levels support for Dunderdale and her party, similar to those seen by her predecessor Williams. However, in the two years since becoming premier support for her and the Progressive Conservative Party has declined dramatically. Between February and March 2011, three opinion polls were released. A NTV/Telelink poll showed that 53 percent of those surveyed would vote for the Progressive Conservative, 17 percent chose the Liberals, 5 percent chose the New Democrats, and 24 percent were undecided. The poll also found that even with 18 percent of those surveyed undecided 65 percent felt Dunderdale was the best choice for premier. An Angus Reid Public Opinion (Angus Reid) poll which was released two weeks later, showing the approval ratings of Canada's premiers, listed Dunderdale as the second most popular premier in Canada with a 55 percent approval rating. 10 percent of respondents disapproved of her performance while 35 percent were not sure if they approved or disapproved of her performance. A Corporate Research Associates (CRA) poll released in March also showed that 73 percent of those surveyed would vote for the Progressive Conservatives, down 2 percent from November 2010. This compared to 18 percent for the Liberal Party and 8 percent for the NDP. 64 percent of those surveyed felt Dunderdale was the best person to be premier of the province; this result was 12 percent lower than what Williams had received in November.

After initially maintaining most of the record high support that Williams received during the majority of his tenure as premier, Dunderdale and the PC Party saw a substantial drop in support following the Spring sitting of the House of Assembly. A CRA poll released in June showed support for the party had fallen to 57 percent, down from 73 percent in three months. Dunderdale’s own popularity also took a hit, however 51 percent of those surveyed still felt she was the best choice for premier. Support for Dunderdale and her party stabilized in the months following. A CRA poll released less than two weeks before the dropping of the writ for the election showed that 54 percent of those surveyed would vote for the PC Party. This was 30 percentage points ahead of the NDP who had jumped to second place with 24 percent. Dunderdale was still considered the best choice for premier by 50% of those surveyed. An Angus Reid poll conducted in August showed that Dunderdale was again the second most popular premier in the country. 55 percent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians surveyed approved of her performance as premier, which was 12 percentage points higher than Angus Reid's last poll which was conducted in May. Throughout the course of the provincial election campaign opinion polls showed that support for the Progressive Conservatives ranged from 53 percent to 59 percent and that Dunderdale remained the preferred choice for premier.

A CRA poll conducted in November 2011, showed a slight increase in support for Dunderdale and the PC Party following their election win. 60% of decided voters supported the party, while Dunderdale was the preferred choice for premier by 59% of those decided.