OTTAWA – Dalton McGuinty isn't going anywhere. Not for the time being, at least.

The premier sailed through a confidence vote during the Ontario Liberal Party's annual general meeting Saturday, with close to 86% of delegates saying yes to his leadership.

Critics thought McGuinty might not survive the confidence vote, but it was clear during the premier's keynote address that his party was staying with the man who has led them to three straight election wins.

Though McGuinty has been under fire for recent legislation freezing teacher salaries and eliminating their right to strike, the premier devoted a portion of his speech to singing the praises of the province's educators and public servants.

He credited his party with building 570 new schools, reducing class sizes and hiring 13,630 new teachers.

"And we did that by working with the best teachers anywhere — Ontario teachers," McGuinty said.

The province, he said, is now recognized as having the "best schools in the English-speaking world."

While accusing the former Progressive Conservative government of hiding a deficit while in power, McGuinty said his party was committed to "putting the economy on the path to stronger growth."

Coming out of a recession he described as "the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression," the premier spoke of the importance of building roads, schools, hospitals and public transit."

"That kept hundreds of thousands of Ontarians working," he said.

The act of eliminating the deficit is "a lot more than an accounting exercise," the premier said, and the only choice was to freeze wages, rather than resorting to layoffs.

The freezes, he said, would "protect public-sector jobs for our workers and protect public services for all our families."

But even with all the handshaking and standing ovations, members of opposition parties weren't buying it.

PC MPP Lisa MacLeod said she was surprised by the upbeat tone of the speech, suggesting it reflected "a government that's really lost its way."

"I think that this is a government that's lost all perspective," she said. "I was quite surprised by their reluctance to admit that they've done some harm to the economy."

NDP MPP Gilles Bisson said he was also taken aback by the tone of the speech, suggesting the Liberals don't have as much to be happy about as the ovations would indicate.

"I think the government should be a little bit more humble (and) recognize that they have done some things wrong and try to adjust," he said.

Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi was re-elected president of the party.