The Ontario NDP leader recently spent the better part of two days in the Sault to introduce herself to voters in hopes of becoming Ontario's next premier.
During a rally in the Sault on Thursday, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles told supporters that Doug Ford quit his job when he called an election three years into his four-year mandate
"Last week he quit when he called that election, but here's the good news — I'm ready for his job," said Stiles to her supporters.
The NDP currently hold 28 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, versus the 79 held by the Ontario PC party. The Liberals occupy just nine seats, six are held by independents and two by the Green Party of Ontario.
"We want to form government and that's our path to government, but we are also a party that has more seats than every other party — except for the Conservatives," said Stiles in a sit-down interview during her recent visit.
Stiles has been leader of the Official Opposition at Queen's Park since February of 2023, when she took over as party leader from Andrea Horwath, who held that position since 2009.
She said the Sault Ste. Marie riding is near and dear to the hearts of provincial New Democrats. It was represented by the NDP at Queen's Park from 1985 to 1990 by Karl Morin-Strom and from 1990 to 2003 by Tony Martin.
In the last election in 2022, the NDP won six of the nine northern Ontario ridings, while the Ontario PC party took the other three, including Sault Ste. Marie.
Algoma–Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha was removed from the Ontario NDP caucus in 2023 following an investigation and has sat as an independent ever since.
"We understand and are willing to fight for working people, and in particular northern communities that I don't think the other parties get," said Stiles.
The Ontario NDP have candidates running in every Ontario riding.
Asked if she has hand-picked any of those candidates, as Doug Ford did with Sault Ste. Marie candidate Chris Scott, Stiles said she has not.
"We don't do that in our party," said Stiles.
"Every single one of our candidates is nominated and either acclaimed — if they're the only candidate — or they have a contested nomination, like Lisa Vezeau-Allen had. We're having a lot of contested nominations. We're not afraid of democracy," she said.
Stiles said the Ontario NDP is also not discouraging candidates from participating in debates or speaking to media, while Ontario PC candidates were instructed to skip them and instead concentrate on meeting constituents at their front doors.
"Why are they so afraid? They don't want to answer questions because they don't want to be held to account," said Stiles.
"The truth is, Doug Ford called this election because he thought he was going to con Ontarians into another four years. He thought he was going to pull one over on them.
"And I don't think Ontarians are buying it . . . They've seen what seven years of Doug Ford is like and they can't afford another four years of that," she added.
The 2025 provincial election was called on Jan. 28 and slated for Feb. 27, leaving party leaders just 30 days to get their respective messages out to voters.
Stiles was in the Sault Thursday evening and all-day Friday for a number of events, including a rally in support of local NDP candidates, a tour of Algoma Steel and the Bon Soo Winter Carnival.
On Friday, she unveiled her party's $4-billion plan to hire more doctors. Sault Ste. Marie was chosen for that announcement, in part, because of last year's announcement by the Group Health Centre that it was de-rostering about 10,000 patients.
Asked why she was spending the better part of two days in Sault Ste. Marie, Stiles told SooToday the Ontario NDP is focused on taking over current Ontario PC ridings.
"We think we can flip this riding from blue to orange, and we have an incredible candidate," said Stiles of Vezeau-Allen.