Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca lacked the charisma necessary to get his party to victory, according to three political science professors.."He certainly put in a lot of work for the party and was an experienced politician. He did well with fundraising. But I think the party knew all along that they were not getting an exciting, charismatic figure in Del Duca," said Jonathan Malloy, a professor of political science at Carleton University.."It was a gamble the party took and it failed, obviously.".Thursday night was not a good one for the Liberals. The party obtained only eight seats, two shy of the number needed to once again become the official opposition party..Del Duca also lost his former riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge to Conservative MPP Michael Tobillo, as he did back in 2018. He resigned, saying that while members of the party would be able to grow it into a new progressive movement, it will be "lead by a new leader.".Malloy said when Del Duca initially ran for the leadership of the party, even he recognized that he wasn't a "particularly exciting individually that could really catch public attention."Next time around, Malloy said the Liberals will need to find a leader that "captures the public's imagination and gets them more engaged." But he said politics is also cyclical, so sometimes all a political party can do is wait until it's their turn again."If you look back 10 to 15 years was the opposite way, the Liberals were running the province and PCs just couldn't get a break. And now it's the other way around. It's a very long-term view," he said..Tim Abray, a professor of political sciences at Queen's University, said there were an "awful lot of a lot of a lot of indicators that momentum was gonna take the day.".Election-day polls showed the Progressive Conservatives ahead of the Liberals by nearly 15 points..Abray said the Ontario Liberals lacked "creativity and a genuine connection with the state of the world right now."."They have seriously underestimated where the world has moved over the last two or three years, and that they have done a terrible job of keeping up with it," he said..Abray said the Liberals opposition to Highway 413, their unpopular "Buck-A-Ride" proposal, and their tendency to "bicker back and forth" with the NDP were just a few of the reasons they lost the election..But Abray said Del Duca turned out to ultimately be a liability for the Liberals.."They need to have a leader who provides reassurance when they talk, is seen as having charisma, has ideas, and is willing to put those ideas out there and attract people with them."."There are a lot of people out there and we're looking for some degree of passionate leadership. And I don't think they found that from Del Duca.".Conrad Winn, a political science professor at Carleton University, said while Del Duca was "weak and mediocre," it wasn't the most important reason as to why the Liberals lost so badly.."Discomfort with with the Liberal prime minister over his threats to free speech would be a major factor," he said. "You don't have supported the truckers in their Ottawa demonstration, to feel that they weren't really very harmful. They certainly weren't a threat to democracy."
