Horwath staying, plans to hold Liberals to account

(Updated) Andrea Horwath says she’s still the best person to lead the Ontario NDP. The Hamilton Centre MPP held her first news conference since the election this morning.

Horwath certainly didn’t step down as some people speculated early yesterday. She reaffirmed that the party will continue holding the Liberals accountable in office, but some traditional NDP supporters are angry with the new makeup of the legislature.

Horwath says the Liberals can thank strategic voting for their majority win on June 12.

“The people in this province voted out of fear as opposed to for change,” she said.

The Ontario Federation of Labour supports the NDP, but leader Sid Ryan says the party used strategic voting as much as any other. He says that traditional party supporters are really mad that there was an election at all.

“You blame strategic voting on losing the election, it’s like blaming voters for picking the wrong candidate on the wrong team,” said Ryan. “She could have influenced that budget. She ends up with no ability to influence anything.”

But Horwath says she is still the right one to lead.

People I talked to across the province said, you’re a good leader, stay on, reconnect with voters,” she said.

Horwath says she never considered stepping down after the election, that there is always great debate within her party. And the future of her leadership will be decided in November when those great debaters meet at the NDP convention and have a mandatory leadership review.