Bob Rae - Ontario NDP Leader

Ontario NDP Leader

During the same period Rae was in Ottawa, the Ontario New Democratic Party was suffering from internal disunity under the leadership of Michael Cassidy. Cassidy resigned as leader after a poor performance in the 1981 provincial election, and a movement began to draft Rae as his replacement. Rae initially declined a request from a provincial delegation led by Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Dave Cooke, but reconsidered after further entreaties from former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and many others.

Eleven of the party's 21 MPPs endorsed his candidacy, as did much of the labour movement. Rae's supporters in caucus were Marion Bryden, Brian Charlton, Dave Cooke, Odoardo Di Santo, Tony Grande, Donald C. MacDonald, Robert Mackenzie, Elie Martel, Ed Philip, George Samis and Mel Swart. He was the most centrist candidate in the contest, and easily defeated Richard Johnston and Jim Foulds at a leadership convention in early 1982.

When Rae won the NDP leadership, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party had governed Ontario since 1943 and was widely regarded as unbeatable. Rae was strongly critical of the Bill Davis government's approach to social issues, and used his acceptance speech to describe the PC Party's Ontario as "Toryland", "essentially a country club in which women and people of colour were not welcome". His comments were criticized by some in the media, though Rae himself would later write that his words seemed "particularly apt" in retrospect and "certainly aroused an angry response which often means a target has been hit".