Hampton opts to step down as NDP leader

After 12 years as head of the Ontario NDP, Howard Hampton announced Saturday that he won’t be seeking re-election as leader at the party’s next convention, scheduled for March in Hamilton.
He will continue to serve as leader until then—and said will run again for MPP for Kenora-Rainy River.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he vowed yesterday in an interview with the Times. “People will find me knocking on their doors in 2011.”
Hampton’s decision not to let his name stand for leader came after a prolonged period of reflection.
“After every election, you have to sit down and ask yourself ‘Do I have the desire and energy to do this every day for the next four years?’” he explained. “And I mean every day.
“You can’t just say you feel like doing it most days—it has to be every day,” he stressed.
“I had to face the facts that most days, I was ready, willing, and wanting to do it, but not every day,” he conceded. “When you recognize that, you have to be honest with people.”
Hampton indicated the leadership job requires at least 17 hours a day, every day, which doesn’t give him as much time with his family as he would like.
“Being with my family has grown in importance,” he said. “My kids are at the age now where they’re both playing hockey, soccer, and baseball, and Sarah is in the school band, and it hurts every time you have to miss something.”
Earlier this spring, for instance, his son, Jonathan, was playing baseball and hit a home run. Hampton was busy doing work in the riding here when he got a call from his son asking why he wasn’t there to see it.
“Those moments take their toll,” he admitted. “I’m glad they are getting involved, but I need to be there.”
While Hampton will continue to serve as MPP for Kenora-Rainy River, he said that job is different, which will allow him to spend more time at home in Sudbury with his wife, former MPP Shelley Martel, and children.
“The travelling will not be as much,” he noted. “Travelling within the constituency is one thing, but when you have to fly to Windsor, Sarnia, Ottawa, Kingston, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, and Sudbury, as well—and drive, too—it’s a lot.
“So it will make a difference.”
And when the legislature is not sitting, Hampton said he actually will be able to be at home.
“You spend less time travelling and more time in one place, and that’s important,” he stressed.
Hampton also said he has no regrets about the past 12 years and has enjoyed the job as leader. He simply feels it will be someone else’s turn to take over come March.
During the NDP Provincial Council, when Hampton revealed his intentions, he stressed some of the accomplishments he’s especially proud of.
These included standing up for workers in the manufacturing and forestry sectors, pushing for increased minimum standards in long-term care facilities, calling for a raise in the minimum wage, and fighting for the constitutional rights of First Nations communities to be respected.
“And there’s lot of work at do as the MPP for Kenora-Rainy River and I’m going to continue to do that work,” he pledged. “I look forward to working with other people to get that job done.”