Ontario election interview: Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca

Ontario Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca spoke with CBC's provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley. CBC News has requested interviews with the leaders of all four major parties fielding a full slate of candidates in the Ontario election.  

Crawley: What would make you a good premier?

Del Duca: I think it's a combination of the experience and the energy that I have alongside a new Ontario Liberal team, to make sure that my daughters grow up in a province that gives them as much, if not more opportunity than I had growing up here. And that's what motivates me every single day of the week. And that's why I believe keeping them and kids across this province like them in my focus will help me be a great premier for this province starting on day one. 

Crawley: What specifically do you bring that would make you a better premier than, say, [PC Leader] Doug Ford?

Del Duca: Well, I think it's a combination again of a couple of things. One is the experience to know how to actually make the work happen, not just the words, but actually keep my sleeves rolled up and work really hard starting on day one, based on the experience that I've had in the past.

But I think also today I'm a more self-aware politician, let's say, and a humble politician, because of the challenge of 2018. The people of Ontario know what 2018 was like. That's why we built a new Ontario Liberal team. We are putting together a compelling, progress-focused, forward facing platform of ideas, and I'm so excited about having this conversation with the people of Ontario over the next number of weeks. And I'm even more excited about the work that lies ahead to rebuild this province in that progress-focused way. 

Crawley: You didn't specifically address what it is you bring that's different from Doug Ford, because obviously he's been humbled in some ways as well by the pandemic. 

Del Duca: Well, I don't know about that. I think that an individual who's been truly humbled would be approaching the last number of months in a different way, focused on governing and providing real leadership in a responsible and thoughtful way. I tell people everywhere I go: what I think people in this province want to see is a responsible and competent leader. I think that those are other characteristics that I bring to this mission of moving the province forward in that progress-focused way. 

Crawley: When people are deciding which party they want to vote for, they are also going through this process of deciding which premier they want, who they think would be the best premier. Your other real competition for that job is [NDP Leader] Andrea Horwath. How would you contrast yourself with her? 

Del Duca: Well, again, I just want to stress, I really believe that there is a stark choice in front of the people of Ontario between the Ford Conservatives' obsession with dragging us backwards and that forward-looking, progress-focused plan and team that the new Ontario Liberal Party is putting forward.

I am going to focus throughout this entire campaign on making sure that people do understand how stark the choice is between the Ontario Liberals and the Ford Conservatives. And I know the other opposition leaders, Mr. Schreiner and Ms. Horwath, will put forward their ideas. That's good. That's how it should be. But given what we've gone through in this province, we cannot afford to take a risk on another premier and another government that doesn't have the required experience to start the important work that lies ahead for this province on day one.

I believe, given my experience and the dynamic energy of our new Ontario Liberal team, it's a really awesome combination to put Ontarians first and that's what we will do. 

Crawley: So we've now seen the NDP's platform. What's different in your platform? 

Del Duca: I will confirm I've not had the chance to pore over the details of the NDP platform. I've only had the chance to hear a bit about it and see some of the media reports. There are some things in that platform that we have already committed to, and there are other ideas that we will be talking about where there are a lot of similarities. It was a bit of a challenge to see a full platform being released without costing details in there. Again, I think that's not necessarily the way to instill the greatest degree of confidence amongst the people of Ontario about how responsible and competent their plan would be should they earn that honour.