Dylan Marando looks pretty young for a guy who wants to be the next leader of the Ontario Liberals — so much so that I had to ask him his age. He had clearly anticipated the question. “Same age as David Peterson when he won the leadership!” he says, referring to the man who won the 1982 convention and became Ontario’s 20th premier three years later.
That’d be 38 years-old, incidentally.
Since I’m betting you’ve never heard of Marando (or, if you have, you likely don’t know much about him), let me describe him for you. He reminds me of a young Dalton McGuinty, back when Ontario’s 24th premier was seeking the party leadership in 1996: earnest, policy-focused, friendly, and well aware that he’s battling huge odds.
McGuinty managed to win.
So, who is Dylan Marando? For starters: Yes, he’s named after the famous singer. “My dad is an Italian hippie,” Marando told me when we met up at a coffee shop in midtown Toronto. “He loved Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is a very romantic and poetic and aspirational figure to grow up to. So, I think I probably need to do something else audacious, as I'm doing right now.”
Marando says he’s listened to every Dylan song “at least 10,000 times,” and the first dance at his wedding with his wife was “Make You Feel My Love.”
Now that he’s in politics, he’s singing a different tune: “oh the times they are a-changin’”
“I thought about that as a campaign slogan, but I wasn't sure about the copyright rules around that,” he says with a smile.
Marando grew up in Richmond Hill, then got a lot of education: three degrees, all of them at the University of Toronto, culminating with a PhD in political science. He isn’t as green at elective politics as he looks. Hmmm. Actually, check that. He did run for the Green party in Richmond Hill in the 2008 federal election, capturing 3,388 votes, or about 7.5 per cent. That was the election in which Liberal leader Stephane Dion ran on the Green Shift, which impressed Marando so much, it prompted him to switch parties. He eventually found himself in Premier McGuinty’s office on the policy team.
“It was fantastic, actually, because basically, whenever Dalton would walk in a room, my job was to make sure he had a one-pager or two-pager that gave him all the facts of the case of that room,” he says. “As a result, I knew every corner of government, by the end of my year in that role.” He stayed in the role for another two years when Kathleen Wynne succeeded McGuinty as premier in 2013.
Marando became deputy director of policy in Justin Trudeau’s Prime Minister’s Office, where he worked alongside his wife, Elise Maiolino. (The pair did their PhDs together, and Maiolino is running Marando’s leadership campaign.)
Marando preferred the lower profile of political advising, and loved contributing to the government’s housing, childcare, and dental care plans, not to mention its response to COVID-19. He had no plans to run for anything again.
“I really did not want to step in front, because I saw what the leaders went through,” he says. “I saw the shit their families went through. And it's brutal.”
Most recently. Marando has been teaching a public policy course to engineers at U of T, a more natural fit than it sounds, given that his last job was for Siemens Healthineers as head of strategy and government affairs.
“That gave me a little bit of insight into how engineers see politics and policy,” he says.
But several months ago, Marando left that job to focus full-time on his quest to be Liberal leader. So, he’s unemployed.
“I knew that if I didn't leave, I was gonna give myself an excuse to have cold feet, and I really, really didn't want that excuse, because I believe in what we're building as a campaign team.”
What changed his mind?
“When Donald Trump started doing all the nonsense that he was doing, the fire was lit in my belly in the same way it was lit in everyone's belly,” Marando says. “And I thought, we're in the fight of our lives, and we've all got to do whatever we can do to win this fight. I had to look at myself in the mirror and say, I'm cursed with being a political beast. And most of the tools I’ve got in the toolbox work best in the political arena. So, I've got to get back in there.”
Marando figured, if we’re about to go to battle with Trump, we need a healthy, talented workforce. That meant improved education and health-care systems, better infrastructure, and a more affordable province.
“So, I had the sense that I had to get in the arena,” he says.
Marando’s passion for improving health care comes directly from personal experience. He was born two months premature at the Ajax-Pickering Hospital, then helicoptered to Sick Kids in downtown Toronto.
“That story got stuck in my brain about the value of our public services,” he says.
Marando was the first candidate the party green-lit to run for the leadership, but the race is looking increasingly crowded. MPP Lee Fairclough is in. As is former federal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains. Two others from Marando’s 30-something cohort are worth watching: MPP Rob Cerjanec is in and Eric Lombardi, the founder of More Neighbours Toronto, is eyeing a bid. Not to mention soon-to-be-former MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who is also weighing his options.
What makes Marando stand out?
For one, he's just raised $100,000, which is pretty solid for a guy who's never run before. While making clear he respects everyone in the race, Marando says, “The simple truth is, I have more experience in the executive office of government than Rob and Lee and Nav and Nate and Eric combined. So, I'm all for renewal, but we need a form of renewal that is fiercely pragmatic — that understands how the machine works, that understands how to get big stuff done, and that actually has a track record of getting big stuff done. There's 50 people on my team who can make the same statement. We are a team built to govern.”
I ask Marando to indulge me one smart-aleck question: “Does your wife think you’re nuts to quit your job and do this?”
“No, actually, which is really helpful,” he laughs. “Frankly, I think she's the best asset I have on the campaign.”
Strangely enough, after an hour of talking, both Marando and I notice there are two prominent words in politics that haven’t passed either of our lips: Doug Ford.
Turns out, that wasn’t by accident.
“I don't think it makes sense to make this campaign about Doug Ford, either this leadership campaign or the next general election.” he says. “For me, it's about giving Ontarians optimism for the future, and it's about a plan. It's not about attacking each other, and the leadership race is certainly not about attacking anyone else.”
Marando is committed to running for a seat regardless of whether he wins the leadership, and he’s not naïve about his chances.
“But I gotta stick my neck out, not for me, but for the workhorses of this party,” he says. “If I crash and burn in this thing and face a public humiliation, I can take it. I knew that was a probable outcome of me entering. What I can't do now, honestly, is let those people down.”