Kathleen Wynne's moment had arrived.
On Monday evening, there was no chorus of boos or heckles like she regularly receives from government MPPs in question period. And there was no second-guessing about her tone, priorities, or whether she needed to pivot.
Kathleen Wynne, the 25th premier of Ontario, could finally be herself.
In the south lobby of Queen's Park, Wynne stood to the side as Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell and Premier Doug Ford pulled the red covering to unveil the previous premier's portrait. With the moment, cheers erupted from the friends, family and politicians past and present who attended the event.
Unlike many of her campaign events in 2018, which were often muted and downcast as her Grits resignedly marched towards a historic election loss, there was a sense of joy on this occasion.
Wynne, the first female and first openly-LGBTQ premier, had preserved her place in history. She entered politics as a mom concerned about education, became a school trustee, cabinet minister, and formed a majority government despite the odds. She was finally at a place where history could look back on her trajectory and take a measure of her.
The unveiling pic.twitter.com/PXKe4e4vZ8
— David Hains (@DavidHains) December 9, 2019
Before the event she told QP Briefing that she liked the portrait, which was painted by Linda Kooluris-Dobbs, the artist who also painted former premier David Peterson and former Lieutenant-Governor Hal Jackman.
"I was quite emotional, because of the permanence of it. Holy mackerel," Wynne told QPB of her first reaction upon seeing the portrait. "This picture is going to be around for a long time. I hope other people see it for what it is, which is a statement of my effort to do my best."
Modern art criticism gives the power to determine essence and meaning to observers rather than the artist or the subject. Despite this post-modern obstacle, premier portraits try to lead their observers in particular directions to form narratives about their subjects; politics does not end at the tip of a paintbrush.
So it is with Wynne's portrait, which is laden with overt symbolism. There's a school bell on her desk, which is a nod to her connection to Ontario's education system. There's a running shoe off to one side to pay tribute to Wynne's daily activity that was also used as a political metaphor in a 2013 ad. There's a canoe to pay homage to Indigenous issues. A stack of books, including one on LGBTQ parenting that she and partner Jane Rounthwaite contributed to, speaks to a variety of issues both personal and political that she values. Tulips in the background pay homage to three formative years Wynne spent in The Netherlands. There's also a scarf, because Wynne likes scarves, even though some of her staff worried that they could come across as too "fancy."
Symbolism matters, she explained, in part because she wants young women and girls to know what's possible, and that the second floor of Queen's Park isn't a club reserved for men.
That's a shift from when Wynne was elected premier in 2014. The Globe and Mail reported her majority mandate without mentioning her historic firsts — the first openly LGBTQ person and first woman to win election as a premier in Ontario — until the eleventh paragraph.
"I was very aware in the leadership race and then as a premier that it wasn't a good idea to focus on that," she said in an interview with QPB in her fourth floor office. "I didn't want to be accused of, nor did I believe I was engaging in some kind of 'playing the gender card' or making that the issue," she explained. But there was another fundamental reason. "I didn't run for office because I was a woman. I ran for office because I had a belief system of what I would like to see happen and I wanted to live out those values."
Asked in her interview with QPB if she's more preoccupied with symbolism now that she isn't governing, she paused.
"It's important for the young girls who come through the legislative assembly building to see themselves in some way reflected," she explained. She added that her symbolism as the first woman and openly-LGBTQ premier also gained more importance "after the fact," when Ontarians would tell her what it meant to them, and she realized how much it mattered. "It really came home to me, the significance of the symbolism."
Wynne was also another historic first — she was the first premier to regularly be lampooned in memes, often with awful images that inspired worse comments.
QPB pointed out that her time as premier spiralled downward in part due to the power of these images by the likes of third-party conservative-leaning group Ontario Proud. Was her portrait a means of having the last word about what her legacy will be?
"This picture is going to last," she said, drawing a contrast to ephemeral Facebook shitposts. "It won't disappear into the ether. It's the importance of a historical record."
The former premier was circumspect about how her time as premier will be remembered by history.
"Nobody is indispensable. Nobody lasts forever. We come into this place as human beings and we pass through this life," she said, striking a philosophical note. Mitch Hepburn, for instance, was a larger-than-life premier who upended traditions and presided over a tumultuous eight years as premier. But the average Ontarian wouldn't know him today.
"I will be forgotten by a lot of people. A lot more people than by those who remember me," she said with a sense of full acceptance, adding that this provides a healthy dose of "humility."
Returning to her wonky roots as a mom who wanted to see her children's education improve, Wynne says even if her name doesn't endure she will be proud that her policies did.
"There are people whose lives were changed by things we did. And whether they remember my name or not they will finish college or university, their children will get supports that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise, and their lives will change because of work that we did. From my perspective that's all I can ask for."
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