MPP Michael Coteau brings bid for Ontario Liberal leadership to London

A former cabinet minister for the Kathleen Wynne government brought his bid for Ontario Liberal Party leadership to London on Tuesday.

Don Valley East MPP Michael Coteau shared breakfast and his platform with Londoners and local Liberals at the Campus Hi Fi on Richmond Street.

Coteau’s stop in London comes just days after news broke of his bid for the provincial party’s leadership. He says it took a long time before deciding to put his name forward in the race for party leadership.

“I think that in Ontario, we’ve lost a sense of decency when it comes to politics,” Coteau said.

“We need to build an Ontario that has a government that’s predictable [and] that’s there for people.”

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Coteau has found provincial political success for nearly a decade and held multiple portfolios in the previous Wynne government.

Since 2011, he’s represented Don Valley East in Queen’s Park and is one of only seven remaining Ontario Liberals currently in office.

Despite the Ontario Liberals’ devastating loss in the 2018 Ontario election, Coteau said he remains confident that Liberal values remain strong in the province.

The leadership candidate added that he hopes to bring an alternative to the Doug Ford government, which Coteau said is leaving certain Ontarians behind with funding cuts.

“We, as a society, have to say: ‘No, Mr. Ford, that’s not the way Ontario wants to go,'” Coteau said.

Others running for party leadership include former transportation minister Steven Del Duca and former Liberal candidate Alvin Tedjo.

The Ontario Liberal Party announced Saturday that it has finalized some of the guidelines for its upcoming leadership race, setting the entrance fee at $100,000.

Candidates will have until Nov. 25 to register for the vote, which is to take place in March 2020, and those who want to vote in the race have until Dec. 2 to join the party.

—With files from the Canadian Press