The party said 80,000 members will be able to cast their votes in the upcoming leadership election of the Toronto Liberal Party. This is the highest number of voters in the history of the party.
According to the party, 44 thousand members were able to vote in the 2013 leader election. Kathleen Wynne was elected leader of the Ontario Liberals with the highest number of votes in that election. However, in the 2020 election, voter turnout dropped to 38,000 and Steven Del Duca was elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Interim leader of the Ontario Liberals, John Fraser, commented on Tuesday as positive news for the party. The Ontario Liberal Party now has 80,000 members. This is going to be the biggest competition in the history of the party in the election of the leader. With this, I can say that the feeling is quite good from the other events that have happened this year.
The Liberals won two by-elections this year. One was held last July in Scarborough-Gylewood and the other in Kanata-Carleton. Both seats were long held by the Progressive Conservative Party. With this victory, the Liberal Party’s seat in the legislature increased to 9. This is the highest number of seats since their majority government ended in 2018. But they still have a long way to go before the ruling Tories can breathe.
Several Liberal contenders have made varying claims about their membership numbers. They were responsible for collecting this number of members. But 80 thousand members are eligible to vote without joining members from other contestants.
A competitor may list the same member more than once. Workers are now working on fixing it. Then the final number of members will be calculated. But it can be said with certainty that the number of members will be at least 80 thousand.
A total of five formal debates will be held between the leadership aspirants. The first debate was last Thursday in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Apart from this, the party members are going to vote in their ranked ballot on November 25. Election results will be announced on December 2.
