Aidan Chamandy 

Reporter

Charlie Pinkerton

No more incoming. No more soon-to-be. It's NDP Leader Marit Stiles now.

Stiles is officially the new leader of the Ontario NDP and the Official Opposition at Queen's Park. 

She replaces now-former interim leader Peter Tabuns, who will return to his more-typical MPP duties in Stiles' 30-member caucus.

For his part, Premier Doug Ford sent a quick congratulatory 

 shortly before Stiles took the stage a bit before 1 p.m. 

Stiles's confirmation was announced at an event in downtown Toronto on Saturday. The party has not disclosed what percentage of eligible voters cast their ballot for Stiles, or any other details about the vote.  

Saturday marked the end of a months-long and sometimes awkward process to fill the void 

With Stiles as her party's lone leadership candidate, the Ontario NDP eschewed a standard leadership race.

It was on the night of the election last spring, just over eight months ago, that Horwath announced she'd be stepping down as leader of the Ontario NDP. As its leader from 2009 to 2022, Horwath's NDP improved its seat count in three consecutive elections and was elected Ontario's Official Opposition twice in a row. But, last June 2, Horwath fell short of her goal of knocking the Ford government out of power, and the NDP's caucus shrunk for the first time under her leadership.

On Saturday, Stiles and the other speakers paid tribute to Horwath's leadership throughout the event. Horwath didn't attend but appeared via a video message, expressing her confidence in Stiles.

“We’re starting on a strong foundation, and we have our former leader Andrea Horwath to thank for that,” Stiles said on Saturday.

June 3, the day after the last election, 

 she was interested in running for her party's leadership.

On Sept. 22, Stiles officially entered the race. At the time, a handful of other MPPs were considering campaigns of their own.

Marit Stiles casts herself as the Ontario NDP leader for everyone

However, the party's Dec. 5 deadline came and passed, with 

Neither the party's constitution nor its 

 accounted for the possibility of only one leadership candidate registering, 

Leadership debates were changed to meet-and-greets with Stiles. She sat down with members and MPPs across the province to take questions and introduce herself to people in regions that might not be super familiar with the Davenport MPP. 

The party also moved up the date of the official vote-unveiling from March to Feb. 4.

About 350 supporters, staff and stalwarts of the New Democrats attended Saturday's event at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. A few hundred more watched online.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh — who was an NDP MPP from 2011 to 2017 — was there to fire up the crowd and praise Stiles, who he worked closely with while she was president of Canada's NDP, before running to be an MPP.

 president," Singh said. Stiles was president of the federal NDP when Singh won the 2017 leadership race.

NDP MPP Chandra Pasma and Sarah Jama, the NDP's candidate in the upcoming Hamilton—Centre byelection, MCed the event. Almost every NDP MPP — save for some who would have had to hop on a plane in Arctic-level weather — was there too.

Prominent labour leaders — including CUPE's Laura Walton, Fred Hahn, the OFL's Patty Coates, and beyond — were prominently featured. Unions hold a huge role in the NDP, with significant sway in leadership elections.

Regular party member votes are weighted at 75 per cent, while "25 per cent of the votes counted in a leadership election shall be allocated among the affiliated (labour) members," 

"You cannot have a strong NDP without labour. And we need to
learn and build on your victories this year," Stiles said in her speech.

Many of the speakers, including Stiles, spoke about fighting against the Ford government's policies on health care, education, and the Greenbelt.

Stiles was born and raised near St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She moved to Ontario to go to Carleton University.

From 1994 to 1995, Stiles worked as a special assistant to Frances Lankin while she was Ontario's international trade and economic development minister in Bob Rae's government — the only time the NDP have been in power in the province.

After Mike Harris's Progressive Conservative government took power in 1995, Stiles to a break from official NDP duties before joining the party again as a caucus health researcher from 1998 to 2004. 

She then worked for 10 years for the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, including as its national director of research and bargaining.

In 2014, she was elected a Toronto District School Board trustee.

She became the federal NDP's president from early 2016 until early 2018, playing a key role in shaping the 2017 leadership race that saw Singh succeed former leader Tom Mulcair.

In 2018, Stiles thwomped one-term Liberal MPP Christina Martins to become Davenport's MPP. She's held the seat ever since, having won re-election last June.

She was the Official Opposition's education critic until stepping aside upon announcing her leadership bid.

Once the legislature returns on Feb. 21 after its long winter break, Stiles will likely kick things off in question period, as the Official Opposition leader usually does.

She'll take over a party with some rather immediate business to attend to, chiefly the Hamilton Centre byelection, which is to replace Horwath, who stepped down from being an MPP on Aug. 15, 2022.

Premier Doug Ford has until Feb. 15 to set the byelection date.

be favoured in Hamilton Centre. They've held the provincial riding since 1990. Its overlapping federal riding is represented by Matthew Green, also a New Democrat.

The PC candidate in Hamilton Centre was just announced on Friday. Peter Wiesner, a 22 year veteran of the Hamilton Police Service, will fly the blue flag in the yet-to-be-announced race. 

There won't be much time for the NDP to celebrate keeping Hamilton Centre, if the election is held soon and Jama's successful, as another of the party's MPPs — Laura Mae Lindo — intends to step down in June. 

Lindo's riding is much less of a sure thing for the Dippers.

Lindo was the first New Democrat to win it in 2018 after the Liberals held it since 2003. It was PC-held before that. Its overlapping representative on Parliament Hill is Green MP Mike Morrice.

Even before the byelections, and MPPs' return to Queen's Park, Stiles can be expected to make some key hirings.

Rumours have floated around NDP circles about who may land where, but 

 hasn't yet confirmed who's poised to take on vacant top jobs in the Leader of the Official Opposition's office.

Two NDP sources singled out Greg Denton, an experienced political staffer who has been Stiles's executive assistant since her early months as an MPP, as someone likely to be promoted.

Asked about the buzz around him just over a week ago, Denton wouldn't budge.

"We're all really excited about this new chapter for the NDP and she'll (Stiles) be announcing a new team soon," Stiles said.

 asked Stiles about her staff plans earlier this week, but didn't say much.

"At this point, I just want to get past Saturday," she said. "Honestly, it's not really for me to do until it's made official."

Stiles added that "you'll see some changes" from how Horwath organized the Opposition leader's office but stopped short of elaborating.

Two days before Stiles's confirmation, NDP MPPs Kristyn Wong-Tam and Jessica Bell heaped praise on their new leader while speaking to the media at Queen's Park.

"I'm personally very excited about Marit Stiles becoming our leader," Wong-Tam said. "She has been proven to be dynamic, intelligent, extremely approachable... I know that Marit is going to be an exceptional leader."

"I want us to form government in 2026, and I think Marit Stiles is the leader to do it," Bell said.

Wong-Tam and Bell were among the one-quarter of NDP MPPs who endorsed Stiles ahead of the party's leadership deadline. 

Marit Stiles confirmed leader of Ontario NDP

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