The party’s not over — but to bring it back to life, the Ontario Liberals know they have a lot of work ahead of them.

And at the centre of the rebuilding will be the seven MPPs who survived an election that saw the party go from majority government at Queen’s Park to losing official status.

“The first thing is listening to people, to get a better understanding of why people felt so disconnected,” said MPP and outgoing cabinet minister Michael Coteau, who was re-elected in Don Valley East in a tough fight with PC candidate Denzil Minnan-Wong. “What was really behind the hate for the Liberals, in many areas?”

Coteau said he believes Liberal values and policies still have support, but in the last few years, “it was hard for people to stay connected to us.”

Outrage over issues like hydro “was the piece that was obvious,” said Coteau, who held three big portfolios prior to the election — children and youth, anti-racism and community and social services. “But there are other pieces that are there that are less obvious, and we need to talk about them.”

After the June 7 vote, and 15 years in power, the Liberals faced the wrath of voters, who reduced their numbers to a handful of MPPs, including Coteau, outgoing Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mitzie Hunter in the Toronto area; John Fraser, Nathalie Des Rosiers and Marie-France Lalonde in the Ottawa area; and Michael Gravelle in Thunder Bay-Superior North.

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“The results speak for themselves — it was a clear message,” said Hunter, who represents Scarborough-Guildwood. “We have to listen to that.”

The first challenge will be for the remaining Liberal MPPs to push for party status — which would provide them with funding and the right to regularly ask questions in the legislature — and make sure they keep the party in the news, said Kathy Brock, a policy studies and political science professor at Queen’s University.

“But the more important thing is that the Liberal party has to get in touch with its constituency associations and find out what was said at the doors” during the election campaign, she said.

“It’s not just anger” that brought them down, she added. “What they’ve got to do is a good analysis of where did things go wrong, and then start to rebuild the party platform that way.”

The party also announced on Tuesday that it will be holding a vote to choose an interim leader.

Though many turned to the NDP this time, “if the Liberals give them a reason to come back, they will,” she added.

Both Coteau and Hunter said they will continue to advocate for their ridings, especially given voters chose them knowing the Liberals would not form government.

As for the party, “the other piece that’s going to be challenging, we are going to be in debt,” Coteau added, at a time when “fundraising is not going to be like it has been over the last 15 years.

“We’re going to have to go back to the base, and we’re going to have to build together and we’re going to have to get ourselves out of debt,” he added.

“I don’t know if it’s going to take four years or eight years (to rebuild the party), but I know one thing, it’s going to take a long time and we’ll know better a year from now.”

Kathleen Wynne is stepping down as leader of the Ontario Liberals following the party’s poor performance in Thursday’s provincial election. The outgoing premier says she is “passing the torch” to a new generation. (The Canadian Press)

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The party will have to be “better aligned with where Ontarians want to be,” he added, and said it’s important to keep reaching out to MPPs who are not returning, as well as others in the party with experience being in opposition.

Hunter, a former education and post-secondary minister, said she heard a lot about child care and other issues while going door to door during the campaign. “At the same time, we have to pinpoint priorities for people in their lives,” she said. “What are we offering? Was that the priority? We have to find that out.”

Local riding associations will play a big part, she added, “making them aware that although everyone is disappointed in the result of the 2018 election, that it’s not over. We will rebuild.”

She and the other six MPPs have spoken one-on-one and via two conference calls, including one Monday morning. One of their first tasks will be to choose an interim leader.

“We are a small team,” Hunter said, “but we have a lot of work to do.”

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