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The shakeup comes just days after NDP Leader Marit Stiles was rocked by an underwhelming leadership review that gave her a lowly 68 per cent endorsement when supporters had predicted stronger support. Stiles has long said she wants to dethrone Premier Doug Ford — considered an ambitious proposal given Abacus Data’s most recent polling that gives the party a 12 per cent approval rating compared to the Progressive Conservative’s 52 per cent and the Liberals 24 per cent.

When the results were announced on Saturday afternoon in Niagara Falls, at the New Democrats’ first official gathering since 2019, Stiles kept her job with the full support of her caucus, she said, the unanimous support of her full caucus.

Now, others are out the door — a common practice when a political party recognizes the need for change. 

In an internal email sent Tuesday night, Ontario New Democratic Party president Janelle Brady thanked Beaulieu for the “renewal” he brought to the party’s finances and operations. An interim provincial director, Brady wrote, will “guide us through the next period.”

The party executive is separate from the leader’s office where Jennifer Hassum, executive director of the Broadbent Institute and long-time party strategist, stepped in as interim director, replacing Denton, who was Stiles’s chief of staff and Nakitsas, the principal secretary.

Kim Wright, a party delegate and principal of public affairs firm Wright Strategies, called the changes an “opportunity to reset and truly grow the party where we want to get to, which is governing. Premier Marit Stiles is the end goal.”

“Change is now happening and the energy I’ve seen in the last 48 to 72 hours really has shown a different tone and a different bounce (in Marit’s) step,” Wright said.

In an interview at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Stiles said she is going to focus on jobs, housing, the economy and health — key issues facing all Ontarians, regardless of political stripe. 

It is unclear if Beaulieu’s resignation is the end of the bloodletting.

A New Democrat who spoke confidentially to share internal party details said “there may be a couple (more), but I think the level set had to happen with these three.”

The goal, said the party insider, is to show voters that “we are not whatever version of a New Democrat some people have in their heads. This is pragmatic. This is community building. This is, ‘How do we get the things that Ontarians want and need to survive and thrive?’”