UPDATE: Glen Murray promises tax cuts in Liberal leadership bid
Posted By:
Newstalk 1010
·
11/4/2012 1:05:00 PM
Former Ontario cabinet minister Glen Murray jumped into the provincial Liberal leadership race Sunday, becoming the first to officially make a play for the party's top spot.
Murray made the announcement a day after stepping down as minister of training, colleges and universities - Premier Dalton McGuinty has said any minister seeking the job must quit cabinet.
At a news conference at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto-Centre MPP said he has the experience and ideas to take the reins of the party, which has struggled since forming a minority government.
``This race is like no other,'' Murray, 50, told a crowd of cheering supporters.
``The winner of this race will be the premier of a minority government with an opposition set to force an election,'' he said.
``This race is about picking someone who has a clear agenda and a premier who is ready, if forced, to take the Liberals into election and win another mandate.''
McGuinty announced two weeks ago that he was leaving public office after nine years as premier and 16 years as party leader.
Murray, who was the mayor of Winnipeg from 1998 to 2004, was first elected to the Ontario legislature in a 2010 byelection in Toronto.
``I've been a big-city mayor, I have successfully led a large government through similar challenges to the ones we face now,'' he said, adding he did so by working with people ``of all political stripes.''
So far, the only other contender for the job is former Municipal Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne, who gave up her cabinet post earlier this week.
It's expected she'll formally announce her intentions Monday, but McGuinty has said she is going enter the race.