THUNDER BAY – Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful Steven Del Duca scored endorsements from Mayor Bill Mauro and MPP Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North), at an announcement at the Prince Arthur Hotel on Tuesday.
The former cabinet minister and Vaughan MPP was in Thunder Bay to announce the release of his Ontario North Action Plan, a platform commitment promising investments in the region. Mauro and Gravelle both sat around the cabinet table with Del Duca under Premier Kathleen Wynne. They say that experience gives them confidence that Del Duca understands the needs of the region.
“I admire and respect all of the candidates for leadership, but I’ve worked closely with Steven over the years we were together in government,” Gravelle explained. “I like the fact that he’s put forward an Ontario North policy. The fact is, I think the person who best understands the north is Steven Del Duca.”
Mauro played down the possibility of political blowback over a mayor wading into a partisan political process.
“There’s nothing dramatic here,” he said, noting other city councillors retain political party memberships, and that his Liberal affiliation is already well known.
Gravelle agreed, saying he spoke with several other candidates to let them know he would be endorsing Del Duca. He doesn’t believe the endorsement will negatively affect his relationships with the other potential leaders.
Del Duca also took the opportunity to release his 10-point action plan for northern Ontario. An expansion of the Trans-Canada highway to four lanes across all of Ontario is front and centre. It also promises to ensure residents of northern Ontario have access to a nurse practitioner or doctor within 48 hours when needed, with Del Duca saying he would expand the mandate of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s mandate to include nurse training.
Other commitments include increased funding for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and Northern Ontario Energy Credit, establishing government agency and ministry headquarters in the north, and building electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout the region.
The race to replace Wynne as leader does not include any candidates from the north. Delegates will select a leader at a party convention March 7. Del Duca will face off against Michael Coteau, a Toronto MPP and former cabinet minister, Kate Graham, a London academic and former municipal staffer, Ottawa lawyer Brenda Hollingsworth, Mitzie Hunter, another Toronto MPP and former minister, and Alvin Tedjo, a former university administrator and government advisor.
