Yesterday afternoon, the Ontario NDP announced its new permanent provincial director, Ali Chatur. He will be beginning duties in the coming months and will continue to work with the interim provincial director, Penny Marno, during the transition. 

The provincial director is responsible for the day-to-day administrative and financial operations of the ONDP as well as making sure the party is election-ready. The party executive is responsible for the hiring process, but their decision will need to be ratified at the next provincial council meeting, which will take place on February 28.

While the announcement coming before the ratification was met with some surprise, this course of action was chosen to ensure Chatur would be able to help with the work required to prepare for the upcoming provincial council meeting, as has been done in the past. 

The previous permanent provincial director, Kevin Beaulieu, and a few other senior staff members resigned following the September 2025 Ontario NDP Convention, where leader Marit Stiles received 68 per cent support. The result of the vote was taken as an indication that the membership is seeking change within the party.

That desire for change has been regularly referenced by the ONDP, including in the email introducing Chatur, which was sent to party members at 2 p.m. yesterday. The formal press release was published a few hours later. 

Chatur says this gap was intentional and meant to be part of a shift towards a member-focused approach for the party, whereby supporters hear information from the party itself, rather than the news.

Chatur has served on the Ontario NDP provincial executive for over eight years as both a member-at-large and vice president, and has been involved with the party since he was 13 years old. He also worked as Tour Director for former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. 

“I’m hopeful in terms of what I’m able to bring to the table,” he says. “I’d like to take a look at the way that we do things…and then see if there’s a way we can improve the member experience for folks, instead of just saying ‘well, we’ve always done it this way.”