For wannabe OLP prez Natalie Hart, it's all about family
Also: Health deal 2.0, Wynne talks populism, Fullerton poaches Sarkaria's D-comms and much more
ABOVE THE FOLD
Ontario is the first province to meet face-to-face with the feds to talk health care cash today — but first, we caught up with wannabe Ontario Liberal Party president NATALIE HART.
Q+A — Meet NATALIE HART: A longtime Liberal organizer who currently sits on the party executive as regional vice president of the central west region, now gunning for party president.
Hart’s also got a knack for business — she serves as general manager of the Malton Business Improvement Area and built a career in the financial services sector, focusing on rural communities — something she says will help make the beleaguered Grits competitive again in 2026.
But her main motivation for running is to bring her son back to a new and improved Ontario.
Here are the highlights from our chat (lightly edited for clarity and length):
QPO: Let’s start at the beginning. Why are you running for party president?
NH: The “why” of my story is a little different than most. I wanted to step up into this role because my 26-year-old son moved to the Yukon last February. In that province, he can afford an apartment on a single income. He can get the health care he needs. And he doesn’t have that here in Ontario. So I’m pretty motivated to do the work to bring about a change in government that would allow him to come home.
QPO: Speaking of family, I understand your father passed away recently. How’s it been campaigning while dealing with a personal tragedy?
NH: The Liberals are a family and so my friends and family and my party have been there for me and have been very supportive. It’s never easy, but campaigns often impact and overlay with real life. As Liberals, we often get into this to make our communities better and because we believe in things that we’re passionate about — health care, education, climate change — and it’s usually because of a personal connection to it.
QPO: What are you most proud of in your role as party VP?
NH: So I’m regional vice-president of the central west region, which includes Peel and Halton. When I started in 2019, I had a lot of inactive riding associations, which isn’t the case now. We’ve done a lot of work to rebuild those grassroots and get involved with the communities and now have active riding associations, which I think did impact our results. Obviously, they weren’t what we wanted, but we were much more competitive this time in no small part because of that work.
QPO: Tell us more about your platform. What’s your number one pitch to card-carrying Grits?
NH: Weighted one-member-one-vote for the leadership election process [currently under review]. That we’re weighted is a critical part of it. There are many different formats that will be discussed, but the one I’m specifically in favour of is a system where we apply a weighting methodology to the ridings. That way we can make sure that the voices from all across the province are heard and respected and that we have a reflection of our actual grassroots and membership.
QPO: One of your challengers, ex-cabinet minister KATHRYN MCGARRY, told me she’s staying neutral on the leadership election process, while also suggesting the current delegated convention has worked in the past. Should she stay neutral on such a hot-button issue?
NH: Part of the role of being president is being able to answer tough questions from our grassroots and keep those communications open and transparent. Now, with respect to Kathryn’s position on neutrality, she did mention she would implement whatever the wishes of the membership are — and I would also do that.
But I also think the membership wants to know what our perspectives are, and I think they deserve a response from me on this critical question.
QPO: It’s been brutal back-to-back elections for the Grits, in which they’ve failed to make recognized party status. What does the party need to do to be competitive the next time around?
NH: One of the things we need to do is educate and empower our grassroots and our volunteers. We need to provide them with training on an ongoing basis — so that doesn’t just include technical training, but what it means to be a volunteer chair or a campaign manager — what are those roles? And how can we connect them with people who’ve done these roles in our rural and urban and small town spaces?
We don’t have definitions of what a campaign manager is, for example. Without definition, you really don’t have a lot of accountability. It’s also hard to get quality people to step into roles that you can’t define. Having some documentation and process around that would be helpful in terms of attracting quality volunteers and quality people into these roles.
QPO: What do you think of the Draft Mike movement?
NH: We’ve always been a big tent party, and if MIKE [SCHREINER] wants to join our party and our caucus, he’s certainly more than welcome. We’ve had some great candidates already looking at the leadership and I look forward to a vigorous race and debate about where to take our party.
QPO: I understand you weren’t happy about our characterization of your tweet that seemingly suggested you’re A-OK with private health care. Would you like to clarify that stance now?
NH: That was in no way an endorsement of private health care — the person that I was speaking with was a personal friend.
In case you missed it, we also spoke with Hart’s rivals, KATHRYN MCGARRY and FADI EL MASRY, about their presidential bids. Meanwhile, El Masry is taking aim at McGarry for keeping neutral on the leadership election process.
Card-carrying Grits will vote for party president at their annual convention in Hamilton on March 3 to 5.
HEALTH DEAL 2.0 — It’s better than nothing.
That’s the vibe from Health Minister SYLVIA JONES and Premier DOUG FORD as they prepare to sit down with federal Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC today in Toronto, to talk about the latest $46.2-billion health care offer on the table.
But Ontario isn’t ready to sign on the dotted line just yet. While Jones says there’s “no doubt” the province will take the much-needed cash — which falls short of the $28-billion annual top-up the premiers had demanded — there are still concerns about the lack of long-term investments.
Ford’s bugaboo: future uncertainty.
“We’re grateful for the offer, we are grateful for sitting down with the prime minister — but we want sustainability, we need certainty moving forward, not just for a few years, five or 10 years, but decades to come,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park.
Jones echoed the sentiment while speaking at a home care funding announcement. “Frankly, I was a little surprised that there wasn’t more focus on community care and home care. To me, it is a very natural place for the patient experience to be improved.”
Don’t hold your breath for an inked agreement after today’s meeting. Our sources say that could take weeks as the province and feds hammer out the details of a bilateral agreement. That said, all parties want a deal in place ahead of their budgets. (Ontario’s is legally due out by March 31, but the Ford government has skipped that self-imposed deadline in the past.)
Ford and his fellow first ministers from across the country are set to meet again to discuss the latest offer from Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU on Friday.
HAPPENING TODAY
— 4 p.m.: Ex-premier KATHLEEN WYNNE is headlining “A Conversation on Populism and Populist Leaders” alongside ED GREENSPON, president and CEO of the Public Policy Forum, put on by Massey College. RSVP.
ON THE COMMITTEE CIRCUIT — The Legislature’s big renovation goes under the microscope at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which is in Ottawa to hear from the deputy clerk at the House of Commons, MICHEL PATRICE. Full lineup.
Meanwhile, the Justice Policy committee meets behind closed doors to draft a report on its study of bail reform.
AROUND THE PRECINCT — Members of the Ethiopian Orthodox churches around the GTA will gather on the South Lawn in “protest against the involvement or interference of the Ethiopian government in the internal matters of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.”
IN OTHER NEWS…
— TREE SECRETS: “DOUG FORD’s government directed Metrolinx to leave two Toronto New Democrat MPPs off a notice sent to city and federal politicians about tree removals in their jurisdictions, according to internal emails obtained by the Star that cast doubt on the independence of the transit agency.”
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
First in Queen’s Park Observer — TRANSITION — RACHEL STRONG is now director of communications to MERRILEE FULLERTON, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. Strong was previously D-comms for Treasury Board President PRABMEET SARKARIA, and held the same role under then-prez, now-Finance Minister PETER BETHLENFALVY.
ON THE CIVIL SERVICE SIDE — ALISHA BHANJI is now a senior policy adviser to the Deputy Minister of Education.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
Stephanie Gawur, Santis Health: Ontario Community Support Association
John Danner, Daisy Consulting Group: LiUNA Local 183, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation
Ben Levitt, Stosic & Associates: Stormfisher Environmental, Kohl & Frisch
Sadaf Abbasi, Sussex Strategy Group: ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)
Aaron Scheewe, The Capital Hill Group: Salesforce Inc, Red Hat Inc., TECHNATION Canada (formerly known as Information Technology Association of Canada)
Amber Irwin The Capital Hill Group Clients: Ontario Dental Hygienists Association
James Simms, TerraNova Strategic: Thales Canada Defence and Security
In-house organizations: Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association — Sienna Senior Living — Earth Rangers — Domtar Inc.
🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Financial Accountability Officer PETER WELTMAN…TVO journalist JOHN MICHAEL MCGRATH.
⌛ COUNTDOWN: T-minus 8 days until the Premier has to call a byelection in Hamilton Centre…12 days until the House reconvenes….50 days until the budget is legally due out.