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By Clara Pasieka

Days before a key deadline that will help find a “saviour” for the Ontario Liberals, the party is a husk of its former self.

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The party is believed to have only 10,000 members now, down from the 44,000 on the rolls when Kathleen Wynne and Sandra Pupatello faced off for the leadership six years ago.

In March, delegates at a Liberal convention will select a new leader and those delegates will be chosen by members of the party.

“However bad you think it is, it’s worse,” said leadership hopeful Alvin Tedjo. “There are ridings in this province where we have one member. There’s another riding where we have two members.”

Michael Coteau another candidate, acknowledges a similarly bleak landscape.

“Back in June of last year, the Ontario Liberal Party as we know it died. . . . So the party that we knew no longer exists. And I keep telling people that the only thing that is recognizable in the party today from our old party is the value sense we have. And that’s what draws people into rooms.”