page_title: Bob Rae
section_title: Premier
hierarchical_section_title: Bob Rae / Premier
caption_attribution_description: English: Ontario Legislative Building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
context_page_description: Robert Keith Rae PC CC OOnt QC is a Canadian diplomat, lawyer, negotiator, public speaker, and former politician at both the federal and provincial level, the latter of which included a term as Premier of Ontario. On July 6, 2020, his appointment as Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
  He was the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre from 2008 to 2013 and the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011 to 2013.
  He was previously leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and the 21st Premier of Ontario, from 1990 until 1995. Between 1978 and 2013, he was elected 11 times to federal and provincial parliaments.
  Rae was a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament from 1978 to 1982. Then he moved to provincial politics, serving as leader of the Ontario NDP from February 7, 1982, to June 22, 1996. After leading his party to victory in the 1990 provincial election he served as the 21st Premier of Ontario from October 1, 1990, to June 26, 1995, and was the first person to have led a provincial NDP government in the province of Ontario.
context_section_description: On October 1, 1990, Rae was sworn in as the first, and to date the only, NDP Premier of Ontario.  He also took the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio, giving himself a direct voice in future constitutional negotiations.
  Bob Rae was in power for 1650 days, the longest term unique to an Ontario premier since the Second World War. In 1990 he was one of the only Ontario premiers who could speak French.
  He was very popular for his first six months as Premier, with a poll from March 1991 showing the NDP at 52% support. The federal NDP also received 56% support in Ontario in a January 1991 poll.
  The government was unable to sustain its popularity, however, and by late 1992 had fallen to third place in public opinion polls.  The party's popularity continued to ebb throughout 1993, followed by only a modest recovery in the next two years.  This, among other factors, partially contributed to a significant decline in support for the federal NDP.
  There are many reasons for the Rae government's loss of popularity between 1991 and 1993.  The NDP had never governed Ontario before, and Ontario was experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression.  The government backtracked on several campaign promises, most notably the introduction of public auto insurance, which caused disagreements among the party and supporters, especially from members of the progressive wing of the party such as cabinet ministers Howard Hampton and Shelley Martel.  A number of scandals in cabinet and caucus due to the large number of rookie MPPs also cut into the government's popularity.
  In the 1993 federal election, the NDP fell to a historic low of 6% support in Ontario.  All 10 New Democrat MPs from Ontario lost their seats to Liberal challengers as the Liberals won all but one seat in the province.  Besides many NDP supporters nationwide voting Liberal to ensure that the Conservatives would be defeated (to avoid the vote-splitting of the 1988 election), the Rae government's unpopularity was a major factor in the federal NDP's losses. On the day after the election, defeated MP Steven Langdon called on Rae to resign.  Langdon had openly campaigned against Rae's austerity measures.  Although he lost by 13,000 votes to the Liberal candidate, he received a higher percentage of votes than any other NDP candidate in the province.
  Notwithstanding its setbacks, the Rae government achieved some positive accomplishments during its time in office.  It saved many jobs in northern Ontario through its bailout of Algoma Steel, and negotiated a similar contract for paper mill workers in Kapuskasing.  Other popular initiatives included the TTC Eglinton West subway line in Toronto (even though the official transit plan only recommended a busway for current needs), support for public housing, and the Jobs Ontario job creation program.  Rae's decision to approve casino gambling for the province was also opposed by many in the party but it provided a steady source of revenue.
caption: The Ontario Legislative Building, from which Rae governed Ontario as the first NDP premier of the province
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