The Progressive Conservative candidate in Thursday’s Kanata—Carleton byelection is seen as a prospective minister in the Ford government, if he can win the riding.
Sean Webster is the PC candidate looking to retain Ontario’s governing party the seat that ex-cabinet minister Merrilee Fullerton walked away from in late March.
Webster’s involvement in Conservative politics dates back several decades and he’s long worked in lobbying. He’s trying to fend off Liberal candidate Karen McCrimmon, a decorated Armed Forces veteran and twice-elected MP, and NDP challenger Melissa Coenraad, a health-care worker and union leader.
In separate interviews with The Trillium on Wednesday, McCrimmon and Coenraad both said health care has been the dominant issue they’ve talked to voters about during the campaign. They each also said they’ve pressed the issue while going door-to-door seeking support.
McCrimmon said she’s been telling residents that she “thinks we’re on the wrong path as the province.”
“I look at health care and I see people not having a family doctor, emergency rooms being closed, (and) substandard care for seniors,” the Liberal candidate said.
If elected, McCrimmon said she’d pressure the government to better support physicians, like by covering costs for nurse practitioners. She also said she feels capable of working across party lines on common objectives to improve the health-care system.
Coenraad said she’s been explaining to residents her experience working in health care as a lab technician for about two decades while raising “what we are actually lacking in the health-care system.”
“In Ottawa, we’ve got not even enough residencies for all the graduates we had last year out of med school, so people are moving away to get residencies, and that’s kind of frustrating,” the NDP candidate said.
If she’s elected to join the official Opposition at Queen’s Park, Coenraad said she’ll advocate for more government funding to be put toward educational grants for health-care workers and residency positions, instead of private health-care providers.
A spokesperson for the PC Party said Webster wasn't available to be interviewed for this story as he was busy campaigning.
Compared to the simultaneous byelection in Scarborough—Guildwood, the PCs seem to have dedicated more energy and cabinet time to the one in Kanata—Carleton.
The Ford government has made nearly $1-billion worth of spending announcements in Ottawa since the byelections were called on June 28, including $330 million for pediatric health care. Funding highlighted by Ford and others have been for initiatives and programs throughout the province and some funding has been previously announced.
In the two previous elections, Fullerton was elected with slightly more than 43 per cent of votes in Kanata—Carleton. In the 2018 and 2022 elections, the ballots cast for Liberal and NDP candidates combined to be between 46 and 48 per cent in total. New Democrat candidates, including Coenraad in 2022, finished second both times.
Kanata—Carleton, and its areas’ predecessor ridings, have been as PC-faithful as almost any at the provincial level in Ontario over the last several decades.
The Liberals are hoping McCrimmon’s experience and profile return them to a more competitive position in the byelection than the party has been in other recent elections.
“That’s my advantage, that they (Kanata—Carleton residents) know me. They saw me when the floods (and tornados) were on, day after day after day after day after day. I was out there… I’ve always been very active and very accessible throughout the entire community and I think that’s earned me some points that others might not have,” said McCrimmon, the federal Liberal MP for Kanata—Carleton from 2015 to 2021.
Webster is nevertheless seen as the favourite in the byelection sparked by Fullerton’s surprise resignation that she announced on March 24, the day after the Ford government released its 2023-24 budget.
Fullerton had been Ontario’s minister of children, community and social services, and the lone member of Ford’s cabinet representing a riding in Ottawa or its wider region.
There’s a strong belief in political circles that if Webster is elected in Thursday’s vote that he could quickly fill that void, including as soon as in the next few months. Ford hinted at as much during a media availability in Ottawa on Tuesday.
“Folks, we need you to get out and support Sean Webster in the upcoming byelection. It's absolutely critical. As you're implying, Ottawa needs more voices at the table,” Ford said to a reporter who asked about the city, Ontario’s second-most populous, lacking representation in his cabinet.
Chatter among PC insiders, including government staff, about an impending provincial cabinet shuffle dates back months. This June was the first in Ford’s time as premier, excluding the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, that he didn’t rearrange his cabinet.
With a win in the Kanata—Carleton byelection, one conservative source told The Trillium that he thinks Webster is “a lock” to join Ford’s cabinet.
This is partly because of the Ottawa void and partly because Webster has an understanding of how government works that’d allow him to hit the ground running, the source said.
One of Webster’s earliest forays into politics was working for Michael Wilson when he was finance minister under then-Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney in the 1980s.
Webster’s career has been dedicated to lobbying since the turn of the century. Much of this time has been in government relations roles for major corporations. He worked for pharmaceutical companies for about a decade, Shoppers Drug Mart for almost four years, Enbridge for almost two, and Canopy Growth for five, his LinkedIn profile shows.
It's typical for premiers to shape their cabinet with an eye on ensuring it includes MPPs who represent each of Ontario’s regions. Currently, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, the MPP for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, is the only member of Ford’s 30-minister cabinet who represents somewhere east of Energy Minister Todd Smith’s riding of Bay of Quinte, where Belleville is.
In lacking a minister in a city the size of Ottawa, it's been more difficult for its residents, representatives from other levels of government, and the area’s stakeholders to efficiently capture the government’s attention, according to the conservative source and another involved in politics in Ottawa.
The Ottawa void was also in part felt before Fullerton’s departure, two conservative sources said.
Fullerton lacked the same profile and visibility within Ottawa as former PC minister Lisa MacLeod, they said. MacLeod has been a Nepean MPP since 2006. While her political career has been patterned with controversies, MacLeod also made a short run for PC Party leader in 2014 and has since held several significant roles within the PCs, including a few different cabinet appointments throughout Ford’s first mandate as premier.
Ford removed MacLeod from cabinet a few weeks after the 2022 provincial election, in his last shuffle of significance. MacLeod announced she was taking a leave of absence for health reasons on the same day. She’s since returned to her MPP duties.
As The Trillium reported about a week after Fullerton’s resignation, several sources in and close to the government said the former family physician gradually fell out of favour with Ford’s inner circle over the six years she was involved with the party.
The Kanata—Carleton byelection is being held on Thursday.
The provincial Scarborough—Guildwood byelection is being held the same day. The Liberals will be looking to defend the seat left vacant by longtime Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter, who resigned in early May to run for mayor of Toronto. Meanwhile, the PCs are trying to add to their almost two-thirds majority by cementing their control of Scarborough.
—With files from Jack Hauen
