Ontario New Democrats meet in Hamilton

Video updated: Members of Ontario’s New Democratic Party gather in Hamilton this weekend for their first convention since last fall’s election.

This of course is familiar territory for leader Andrea Horwath, who is the MPP for Hamilton Centre.

It was three years ago she won the party’s provincial leadership at the convention at the Hamilton Convention Centre, which is also the site of this weekend’s gathering. Delegates will meet to elect a new executive, debate policy resolutions and celebrate the NDP’s ‘orange crush’ across the country in the last year.

Horwath says she’s confident she’ll do well in the automatic leadership review she’ll face tomorrow morning. She also dismisses suggestions she angered some in her party who feel she abandoned the party’s left-wing roots. She says New Democrats are feeling good after increasing their seat count last October and helping hold the Liberals to a minority.

Top of mind for many will be the amendments the NDP have asked the Liberals to make to last month’s provincial budget if they are to support it, including a new tax bracket for $500,000-a-year earners, and caps on public executive salaries. The budget vote is expected to take place no later than April 24th.

Video: Cristina Tenaglia reports: