Pupatello loses Liberal race

By Kenton Wolfe
Liberal voters and politicians alike were shocked Jan. 27, after Sandra Pupatello’s loss to Kathleen Wynne in the battle for a new Liberal leader and Premier of Ontario.

Pupatello’s loss came as somewhat of a surprise as she was leading after the first and second ballots for a new leader of the party. However, after beating out several others support changed from the defeated candidates.

“People who said they were going to support us changed last minute,” said Caroline Jacobson president of the Young Liberals at the University of Windsor. “I think the outcome is still really great. We had some really strong candidates, so no matter what I think we’re really excited to rally behind a new premier.”

Even with Toronto native Wynne now in office, Jacobson believes the support for Windsor won’t change.

“I think people would say it’s not the best-case scenario for Windsor. I would say that in the past we’ve had a lot of economic help here from Sandra and Dwight (Duncan), just because she was the minister of economic development and Dwight was the minister of finance. We’ve had a lot of projects coming in here,” said Jacobson. “There’s been a lot of flow economically here, but Kathleen has said she wants to be the premier of all of Ontario – not just Toronto. People were kind of worried about that because she was from the (Greater Toronto Area), but I think Kathleen will be great and keep things moving here in Windsor as well.”

By winning the Liberal leadership race, Wynne became both the first female and openly-gay premier of Ontario.