Randall Denley: Doug Ford is vulnerable to a serious challenger. Why can’t the Ontario Liberals find one?

The Ontario Liberals are one again looking for a leader who can post a legitimate challenge Premier and PC Leader Doug Ford at the polls. Photo by Tom Krochak/Postmedia

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Why do Ontario’s opposition parties produce a perpetual parade of political pipsqueaks? Surely, in a province of 16 million people, there must be one credible opponent for PC Premier Doug Ford.

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In their attempts to defeat Ford, the provincial Liberals offered first Steven Del Duca, then Bonnie Crombie. Both got clobbered at the polls. The NDP tried Andrea Horwath twice and now they have Marit Stiles as leader. As the loser of only one election, she’s just getting warmed up.

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Reverting to their real level of competence, Del Duca and Horwath are now mayors of mid-sized municipalities. Crombie is trying to get back her old job as Mississauga mayor.

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Now, the Ontario Liberals are once again seeking an electable leader, but it’s not looking good.

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They face two key challenges. Their last two leaders didn’t have a seat in the legislature. That’s a significant disadvantage, but their caucus has only 14 members and none of them are well known. That leaves the field open to an outsider, but the next election is at least three years away. That’s a big commitment for an uncertain future. It’s not that appealing to a person who might be considered a star candidate. There is no Mark Carney waiting in the wings for the provincial party.

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Despite all of that, the field doesn’t look too bad in theory. It features a former federal cabinet minister, two MPPS with some real-life experience, and two young guys who want to have their ideas heard.

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Navdeep Bains is the most experienced politician, having been elected an MP in 2005. He served as a mid-level cabinet minister under former prime minister Justin Trudeau and left federal politics in 2021 to take a corporate executive job. He’s an accountant by training.

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Ontario Liberal leadership candidates, from left, top row: Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi and Dylan Marando. Bottom row: Navdeep Bains and Stephanie Bowman. Photo by Postmedia files and supplied

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MPP Stephanie Bowman is a former bank executive and MPP Lee Fairclough had a long career in health care, including management positions. The two other contenders are Dylan Marando, a former political staffer, and Eric Lombardi, a housing advocate and financial technology entrepreneur. To his credit, Lombardi has released a detailed and costed platform.

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In their first leadership debate this week, most of the candidates did little to help themselves. Bains was a relaxed speaker but that doesn’t matter much when all you are offering is platitudes. Fairclough needs to work on her distracting and excessive hand gestures and Bowman seemed unsure of herself, having to look at notes even when describing her own résume. Marando was the most effective speaker of the lot.

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At this point, it’s difficult to see any one of those candidates offering a serious challenge to Ford. Bains seems bland and being a Trudeau cabinet minister isn’t exactly political gold. The two MPPs have somewhat similar backgrounds. Their challenge will be distinguishing themselves from each other. Lombardi has ideas and Marando has poise, but they have never been elected to anything. Neither has accomplishments sufficient to overcome that deficit.