At the Star's Queen's Park bureau, we receive dozens of Christmas cards each yuletide season from party leaders, cabinet ministers and MPPs.
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A common theme — regardless of political stripe — is the pride and joy they take in their loved ones.
Premier Doug Ford's card, which is being sent out to 20,000 people this year, wishes a "Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays" from "the Ford Family."
It features the premier and wife Karla and three of their four adult daughters, Kayla, Kyla and Kara and their partners Mo, John and Aidan plus the family dog Kobe.
As the Star first reported last year, Ford's other daughter, Krista, and her husband, Dave, opt out of the family portraits due to ongoing political differences with her father.
In 2022, Krista, who had publicly criticized the premier's support for COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic restrictions, expressed her concerns about his opposition to the so-called "Freedom Convoy" protests that year in Ottawa.
Sources close to the premier, speaking confidentially in order to discuss a familial matter, said it remains a delicate subject.
Indeed, Ford has candidly acknowledged how the pandemic "fractured us as a society" and sparked difficult conversation at holiday gatherings throughout the province.
"I've experienced this in my own family. It's been one of the hardest things my family and I have ever gone through. All of it has polarized us in a way that we could have never imagined," the premier said at the height of the convoy blockade in February 2022.
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While NDP Leader Marit Stiles used the same autumnal family portrait she did in last year's card — featuring spouse Jordan Berger, their daughters Lila and Mahala, and dogs Hobbes and Stevie Licks — it is tucked inside.
On the front of Stiles' card, which boasts holiday greetings in six languages, is an original illustration by Toronto artist Juliana Neufeld.
Neufeld's homage to Ontario depicts Christmas carolers at Queen's Park, Sudbury's Big Nickel, skaters on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and a fireworks display above Niagara Falls.
The official opposition leader, acclaimed to the post in February, will be sending out 5,266 cards this year.
Earlier this month, the Liberals also elected a new leader — Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie — to take them into the 2026 election.
Crombie's card featured the beaming divorced mother of three with her daughter Natasha and sons Jon and Alex at the Grit leadership convention on Dec. 2 where she won a third-ballot victory.
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She is mailing out 300 cards and emailing another 100,000 to Liberal members across the province.
"Wishing You a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" reads the inscription in both official languages.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner — who doubled the size of his caucus to two MPPs after a Nov. 30 byelection win in Kitchener Centre — always includes a family portrait on his Christmas cards.
This year, Schreiner and wife Sandy Welsh and their daughters Isabelle and Beata are portaging a yellow canoe beside a river.
Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney grew up in a famous political family — her father, Brian Mulroney, was Progressive Conservative prime minister between 1984 and 1993 — and her four children feature prominently on her card.
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Mulroney poses on the front steps of the Ontario legislature with husband Andrew Lapham, and their daughters Theodora and Miranda, sons Lewis and Pierce and dog Peanut.
"Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season and a joyous New Year!" reads the inscription in both English and French, appropriate since she also serves as francophone affairs minister.
Speaking of family, NDP MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) sent out a card this year boasting hand-drawn artwork by his grandson, Tanner Bidal.
It shows Gates, with his trademark moustache, sporting a Spider-Man Christmas sweater and a jaunty scarf, astride a reindeer dashing through the snow.
Of all the lovely cards we received at the Star bureau this year, it was our favourite.
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Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli used AI to make his Christmas card.Â
Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie.
Robert
Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter
covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie.
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