Kathleen Wynne quitting: First woman and lesbian Premier of Ontario says she won’t contest 2022 elections
The Canadian Bazaar
TORONTO: Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she won’t be contesting the provincial elections in 2022.
The 67-year-old was Ontario’s first female and openly gay Premier of Ontario since 1867.
She is currently the MPP for Don Valley West, which she has represented for 17 years.
Kathleen Wynne took over the Liberal Party leadership and Premiership from Dalton McGuinty in 2013. Under her, the Liberal Party retained power in the 2014 Ontario elections.
After staying in power for 15 years, the Liberal party under her was roundly beaten by the Progressive Conservative Party under Doug Ford in the 2018 elections.
“By the time the next election comes around I will have been in office for 22 years. I will be 69 and I think that it’s time to pass the torch,” Wynne confirmed to Newstalk 1010 on Tuesday after reports appeared on Monday that she was considering quitting electoral politics by 2022.
As for her achievements, Ontario instituted the first carbon pricing with cap and trade. She also raised the minimum wage to $14 an hour and made free drug coverage to all children.
But on the negative side, her decision to sell a majority stake in Hydro One led to criticism.
Wynne was married to Phil Cowperthwaite till the age of 37 and the couple had three children till she came out as a lesbian 30 years ago.
She is married to her same-sex spouse Jane Rounthwaite. The two women married in July 2005 immediately after same-sex marriages became legal in Canada.
