The Ontario NDP caucus is recommending Peter Tabuns as the party's first new leader — albeit temporarily — in over a decade, sources tell QP Briefing.
NDP MPPs decided Monday morning that Tabuns is their preference for who will fill the void left by Andrea Horwath until party members elect a new leader, a caucus source and another with deep ties in the party confirmed.
Tabuns will either be confirmed as interim leader, or the party's provincial council will elect someone else — the latter of which is the unlikelier of the two outcomes, two sources with deep ties in the party and a source on its provincial council confirmed.
The next step in the interim leader selection process is a meeting by the party's provincial executive to confirm caucus's nomination, which will take place Wednesday night. The provincial council, which executive members are a part of, will later make the final decision.
While the party's constitution doesn't explicitly disallow an interim leader from running to be full-time leader, it's expected that the interim leader will stay out of that race.
Tabuns was chosen over three others who sources previously said were top options: Peggy Sattler, Bhutila Karpoche and Jennifer French.
READ MORE: NDP MPPs to soon suggest one of four favourites be interim leader, say sources
Horwath was leader for 13 years. She announced her resignation on election night, after her fourth election as party leader.
Tabuns is the NDP's second-longest serving MPP, behind only Horwath. He was elected provincially for the first time in a byelection in 2006. Prior to, he was a Toronto city councillor and executive director of Greenpeace Canada before that.
In the NDP's last leadership election in 2009, Tabuns finished second behind Horwath.
In the election on June 2, Tabuns was elected as MPP for the sixth time. He won Toronto—Danforth with more than 50 per cent of votes.
As part of the task of transitioning the party from one leader to the next, the NDP's interim leader will be responsible for managing at least a few changes to the party's top staff. Last week, Horwath's chief-of-staff and campaign manager Michael Balagus told party staff that he would be stepping aside in September. Karla Webber-Gallagher, the NDP caucus's principal secretary, is also leaving her position. Sam Pane, a longtime communications aide of Horwath's, has also left his role.
The NDP will hold a leadership election to determine who will take the reins of the party from Tabuns — or whoever else is affirmed as interim leader. The party is in the very early goings of determining how its leadership election will be run, meaning it hasn't established its timeline yet. The provincial executive makes these decisions.
MPPs Joel Harden, Marit Stiles and Catherine Fife have each said they're entertaining the idea of running to be the party's next leader.
There had been some buzz among members about New Democrat MP Matthew Green being an exciting prospect as the provincial party's next leader, but he said last week he wouldn't join the race. "I'm not going to put my ambition in front of my commitment to just continue to serve as a member of parliament and just become the best parliamentarian that I could be," Green told QP Briefing.
Newly-elected MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam was someone else rumoured as a possible successor to Horwath, but she expressed in an interview last week that she didn't intend to mount a leadership run at this time.
No one has officially declared their candidacy yet.
NDP MPPs also decided late last week to make Jeff Burch the new chair of their caucus, which he announced on Twitter on Friday. He takes the job over from Fife.
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