Kathleen Wynne admits Liberals won’t win election, urges voters to still vote for the party

Kathleen Wynne has conceded the Liberals will not win the Ontario election.

Speaking at an event in North York Saturday morning, Wynne said the party would not form the next government after Thursday’s vote. It wasn’t one particular thing that solidified the decision for the party leader but rather a “confluence of things,” Wynne said.

“I can’t tell you the moment,” she said, adding they’ve been looking at it for a while now.

Though she did well in the debate on May 27, Wynne said she knew that it “wasn’t going to turn the tide.”

Wynne, however, refused to say whether she would step down as party leader after the election.

“I think we need to see what happens. I can’t tell you exactly what that process will be,” she told reporters. “The sure thing is that we’re dealing with the reality that I won’t be the premier.”

She declined to endorse either the Tories or NDP, and urged voters to elect as many Liberal MPPs as possible in order to prevent either party from winning a majority government.

Wynne said whichever way the vote goes, people should hope for a minority win to keep the government “from acting too extreme – one way or the other.”

“There are people in ridings where they think the local Liberal candidate is the person who should win … if your concern is that you’d be electing me or electing a Liberal government, that’s not going to happen. And so we need liberals at Queen’s Park to stop a majority for either of the other governments.”

When asked about the Wynne announcement, Ford, speaking at an event in Nepean, Ont., reiterated the message that the election was about “change.”

“This whole election has been about change. People are sick and tired of being the most indebted, subnational debted in the entire world,” he said. “… People are sick and tired of having the highest hydro rate in North America. People are sick and tired of high taxes.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released a statement echoing the statement of change made by Ford.

“Kathleen Wynne has abandoned the fight against Doug Ford cuts. And her request today for a minority government is a demand that she be allowed to continue to hold the power at Queen’s Park – something voters have already rejected,” she wrote.

“But she is playing a dangerous game. Liberal votes won’t result in a minority – they’ll result in a Doug Ford majority. And we can’t afford Ford.”

WATCH: Kathleen Wynne urges voters to still vote for Liberal party

As soon as she made the announcement, Wynne’s Twitter account began tweeting at voters urging them that “the more Liberal MPPs we send to Queen’s Park on June 7,^, the less likely it becomes that either Doug Ford or the NDP will be able to form a majority government.”

“A vote for the Liberal Party is a vote to keep the next government accountable to the public.”

When asked whether or not she should have stepped down a year ago, Wynne said she believed the party had a good “shot” at winning.

“This campaign is a different campaign than we had expected it to be,” she said. “I think Doug Ford introduced a whole different element into this campaign than we expected.”

She said that she still stands by the party’s work, its record and its plan for the province.

The Liberals have been in power for the past 15 years, with Wynne as leader since 2013.

She remains the Liberal candidate in the Don Valley West riding.