The Liberal Party of Canada needs to change to win. We need to be a bold new party, and we want to start at the country’s biggest, best university, becoming serious once again about making a difference in our communities, fighting for our values and communicating our message—oh, and we also want to win elections.

The Ontario Liberal Party has got the (hat) trick down pat. Premier McGuinty’s government advances progressive values and makes smart investments in our economy through education and clean energy. We need to continue to get the balance right, and win the majority our Party needs to move Ontario forward.

In fact, the Liberal Party of Canada could learn a thing or two from the Ontario Liberal Party. We see it playing out in Parliament everyday. The NDP wants to kill jobs, attacking the oil sands in a divisive east-v-west strategy. The Conservatives want to kill the environment, cutting environmental regulation after environmental regulation, abandoning Kyoto and cancelling retrofit programmes.

In between an NDP that wants to kill jobs and a Conservative Party that wants to kill the environment, Liberals must stand up with a plan to save both. Differentiation is the name of the game. And we need to be smart about it.

We’ll harness Canada’s energy sector in a clean way. We’ll be about green jobs. And we’ll do it through education. The Liberal message has to be about the economy, the environment and education. Getting the smart, balanced blend matters.

It’s what Premier McGuinty has tried, and largely succeeded, at doing.

As the Liberal Party of Canada transitions into a leadership race and the Ontario Liberal Party works to win back a full majority, the UofT Liberals will be in the thick of it, fighting to advance progressive values.

We hope you’ll join us by registering as a supporter or joining our club. We’re going to change to win, starting at UofT.

Jonathan Scott, President
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @J_Scott_