We live in complicated times. While it has become a cliché to remark on the ”unprecedented” scale of change our policymakers are contending with, it’s also reasonable for Ontarians to ask if their politics are equipped to keep up.
There is ample evidence to show that politicians are increasingly taking the role of actors and brand ambassadors, rather than thinkers. “Keep it simple, stupid” is no longer just a communications principle, but a guiding ideology. Faced with a housing crisis, a spike in opioid-related deaths, an energy transition driven by the realities of climate change, and an aging population, our trend toward simplification has consequences.
We need leaders who are willing to ask difficult questions and grasp the scale and nuance of these issues. We need serious thinkers who can lead the public based on shared vision and credible ideas. We need so much more than name recognition and avuncularity.
As an academic with a focus on justice and inequality, it won’t surprise many readers to know I have an idealistic view of what politics can be. But the expectation of a more ambitious, less cynical form of politics is one that can benefit every Ontarian.
The health-care, housing and climate crises in Ontario have all been worsened by a failure of imagination, unwillingness to embrace large-scale change and resistance to available evidence.
While it’s fair to point to the Ford Conservatives, who won a majority government on a “get it done” promise that did not come with a costed platform, the issue runs much deeper.
To that end, Ontario Liberals are having an existential debate that’s bigger than any specific policy as they select their next leader. It’s about the way we do politics. Nate Erskine-Smith appears to understand this better than any other candidate, running a campaign that wholeheartedly embraces “seriousness” as a guiding principle and promises a new style of leadership built on evidence and consensus building.
He’s built his career walking the walk. I first met Nate in 2019 through my advocacy work around cannabis legalization and amnesty for people with criminal records for convictions of simple possession. Having met with a number of MPs, I went into my engagement with tempered expectations. I would walk through my research, make a series of recommendations and hear the MP I was sitting across from recite the bullet points that his or her party provided. But Nate was different.
He listened, asked questions that he didn’t know the answer to, sought out evidence and data, and saw an outside perspective as an asset, rather than a threat. He wasn’t afraid to work across party lines when it meant making progress.
These aren’t just pie-in-the-sky ideals. They’ve been a winning formula for Nate, who has built a reputation as a straight shooter and won three straight elections in a formerly NDP-held riding, more than doubling his nearest competitor in the last two campaigns.
He also helped shape the government agenda on issues of vital importance — whether it’s saving lives in the opioid crisis, advocating for policies that benefit lower-income workers or pushing for a smarter approach to climate change.
The question that Liberals are asking is whether or not it can work on a provincewide scale. I’m not in the business of forecasting partisan politics, but as somebody who studies human behaviour, I know that people move in cycles. While folksy populism may have gotten Doug Ford elected, short-term back-of-the-napkin planning for political expediency will be his undoing.
As we navigate the shifting political landscape, the opportunity for a more thoughtful, substantive politics has never been greater. Ontarians are looking for more than a change from blue to red, but a new type of leader and a new type of leadership.
It's time to choose the path of progress, and Nate offers that pathway. Liberals have an exciting opportunity to embrace the seriousness we all deserve.
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto and a Senior Fellow at Massey College, and a policy adviser on the Nate Erskine-Smith campaign.
