View topic - Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton Calls It Quits :: Free Dominion - Principled Conservative - Party and Canadian Politics

Hampton won't seek re-election as NDP leader

Updated Sat. Jun. 14 2008 2:48 PM ET

ctvtoronto.ca

Ontario New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton will not seek re-election at the party's convention next March, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.

Hampton, 56, told delegates his decision at an NDP provincial council meeting in Toronto on Saturday.

He says he will stay on as MPP for the northern riding of Kenora-Rainy River until at least the next provincial election in 2011.

Hampton has been leader of the NDP since 1996, when he took over from former premier Bob Rae. He was first elected in 1987, and was both attorney general and natural resources minister in Rae's cabinet.

Hampton said he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Shelly Martel, and their two children, Jonathan and Sarah.

Martel, who also served in Bob Rae's cabinet in the early 1990s, retired from provincial politics before last year's election after 20 years as member for the Sudbury riding of Nickel Belt.

Hampton led the NDP through three provincial elections, but failed to make any major gains in the number of seats in the Ontario legislature. The NDP have 10 seats at Queen's Park.

His decision triggers a leadership race, but there isn't a clear frontrunner. Party insiders say they main contenders including Marilyn Churley and Frances Lankin, who lost the party's last leadership race to Hampton, and Peter Tabuns and Cheri DiNovo, newer members who represent Toronto ridings.

His career

Hampton was born in Fort Frances to a blue-collar family, the son of a mill worker in a community with strong trade union principles.

He first joined the NDP when he was a teenager, and attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on a hockey scholarship.

He later earned a bachelor of education from the University of Toronto and a law degree from the University of Ottawa.

Hampton worked as a lawyer for the Canadian Labour Congress and in private practice in his hometown.

He also worked for the Saskatchewan NDP government of Allan Blakeney in the 1970s, and as a teacher in southern and northern Ontario.

He was elected to Queen's Park on his third attempt in 1987. When the NDP won an unexpected majority government in 1990, Hampton was appointed attorney general. He was later demoted to Minister of Natural Resources.

Hampton and Rae were not allies, as Hampton didn't agree with many of Rae's policies.

After Ontario's first NDP government was trounced in 1995, Rae retired as leader and Hampton replaced him.

The NDP dropped from 17 seats to just nine in the 1999 election when some supporters and union leaders voted for the Liberals in an attempt to prevent the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris from being re-elected.

Harris won, and the NDP received only 12 per cent of the popular vote -- the party's poorest election showing in nearly 50 years.

When Harris unveiled plans to privatize the public electricity utility in his second term, Hampton emerged as an advocate for public ownership of hydro. He then published a book, "Public Power: The Fight for Publicly Owned Electricity."

In the 2003 provincial election, support for the NDP dropped again, as the party won only seven seats and lost official party status for the first time in 40 years.

The NDP regained official party status in a byelection in Hamilton in 2004. Subsequent byelections have increased the NDP's seat count to 10.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080614/hampton_stepping_down_080614/20080614?hub=QPeriod

Posted: 06/ 14/ 08 3:42 pm Post subject:

It appears almost certain they will go the same route as Jack Layton and aim for the urban hippies.

Posted: 06/ 14/ 08 5:42 pm Post subject:

This makes way for David Miller to become the leader of the ONtario NDP.

Then that allows Jack Layton to return to Toronto and run for mayor.

I have been predicting this for over a year now.

Posted: 06/ 14/ 08 11:13 pm Post subject:

I don't know if Jack Layton would want to run for Mayor of Toronto (or whether Toronto would want to elect him!)

And why would David Miller want to be leader of a provincial party which is likely not to ever be in power again?

Posted: 06/ 14/ 08 11:17 pm Post subject:

one down, many many more to go.
_________________

Posted: 06/ 15/ 08 12:14 pm Post subject:

I hope they elect Churley or Dinovo. Howard was from a different, less entertaining school of the NDP. It's time to bring the crazy back.

Posted: 06/ 15/ 08 12:44 pm Post subject:

Posted: 06/ 17/ 08 10:22 am Post subject:

interesting and sure to shake up the rather dull provincial politics scene in ontario . mean liberals seem to have no real opposition at the moment and alot of voters not paying alot of attention to provncial politics at the moment ( voter turnout hit record low last election )

Posted: 06/ 17/ 08 12:13 pm Post subject:

Howard who?
No-one wants to lead the Ontario NDippers. Bob Rae ensured they'd be completely unviable as a governing party for a generation.

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