This week NDP Leader Andrea Horwath threw in the towel and declared victory at the same time in announcing her party’s support for Premier Kathleen Wynne’s first budget.

Horwath pulled herself out of a nosedive, albeit while wresting one last concession from Wynne: the creation of a new budget review office.

Horwath has been smart over the past few months; with little chance of electoral success she has played a weak hand of cards to maximum advantage.

But somewhere along the way Horwath lost the plot. Unable to make a tough decision in the face of a reported split in her party’s senior ranks, she hedged her bets. This raised questions about her ability to pick a lane and lead when the going gets tough. It left everyone asking if she is premier material.

Horwath deserved some latitude at this time last year when budget talks between the NDP and the Dalton McGuinty Liberals went off the rails. It was anyone’s guess what was going on.

This year it has been a different story. Horwath went public early with the policy changes she was looking for in order to support the Liberals’ 2013-14 budget.

After the NDP’s demands were more than met by Wynne, Horwath went Rob-Ford-populist, saying that she needed to consult with the people before finalizing her demands.

It was a case of Hello Horwath Nation.

Ombudsman André Marin, a tireless advocate for the expansion of his own oversight powers, must have lit up Horwath’s phone lines. Horwath’s proposal to extend Marin’s mandate to the health sector are unlikely to have come from her chats with the people. The ombudsman will be disappointed again.

Horwath took another page from Ford’s playbook in opposing new highway tolls and tax increases. This rankled labour leaders who were already worried that the NDP leader was on the verge of handing an election victory to Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives.

This says a lot about Andrea Horwath, who last time around seemed to be in control of her own agenda and party. Not so much now, it seems.

The big story here though is about Kathleen Wynne, who has been full of surprises.

Wynne upset predictions by emerging from January’s leadership convention as Ontario’s 25th premier and has re-earned both respectability and electability for Ontario’s Liberals.

As promised in her convention speech, she has made a serious effort to reach out to her political opposition and has repaired relationships with the province’s teachers.

With support for her first budget all but guaranteed, Wynne has now secured up to another year in office. This is plenty of time to consolidate her growing strength.

She is the only political leader in Ontario with a strong showing in both personal and party popularity.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has high personal appeal but polling has her party running third.

PC Leader Tim Hudak isn’t so well liked personally but his party is currently sharing the lead with the Liberals.

In an age of cynical and nasty politics – and there is plenty of this going around at Queen’s Park – Wynne has taken the high moral and political ground. And when you think about it, it has been no contest.

Wynne comes across as the most straightforward and trustworthy of the three leaders. She has toughness and humility in equal measure as was evident in her recent apology for the government’s handling of the gas plant file.

For all of the populism espoused by Horwath and Hudak, Wynne has been walking away with the marbles, attracting left-of-centre support as she goes.

This is riling her political rivals to no end and it explains their bitter mood and peculiar behaviour.

Hudak’s Conservatives aren’t doing too badly. They have released a detailed policy agenda, are consistently clear on where they stand and are sticking to it. Hudak has successfully distinguished his party from its two main rivals. The PCs are way ahead of Horwath in the polls, a factor that has driven labour support back to the Liberals.

As this week draws to a close, the Premier is doing well, despite the gas plants and the opposition’s full-out efforts to stymie – if not kill – the province’s minority government.

A different Liberal brand is alive and well. This is quite an accomplishment in view of the challenges facing Wynne at the start of this year. And Wynne’s humility is one of her greatest strengths.

Wynne humble on the high road as rivals stumble

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