Thursday, January 8, 2009


Ontario conservatives playing political musical chairs

What are John Tory and Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party trying to pull?

The latest news in the party leader’s quest for a seat in the Legislature is that MPP Laurie Scott – who represents the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock – has agreed to step down. That will trigger a by-election in which Tory plans to run and win.

But there is so much wrong with this scenario, and it shows just how desperate Tory and his PC party have become.

Firstly, Scott agreed to vacate her seat only after being promised a political golden parachute. She will reportedly become Tory’s chief of staff at Queen’s Park until the next provincial election in 2011. In any other situation, this would be called a bribe.

Secondly, Scott will only serve until 2011 so that she can run for her old seat again. What would Tory do then? Well, he would run in some other riding – that is, if he can find one that will elect him. After all, he disastrously lost in Don Valley West last year against Liberal incumbent and education minister Kathleen Wynne.

And speaking of whether or not he can win: Thirdly, what makes Tory so cock-sure that he will win a by-election in Scott’s riding? Yes, Scott has held the seat since 2003, but in last year’s election, she only won with 50 percent of the vote. And after the pathetic campaign Tory ran last year – basically, his party bottomed out because of Tory’s sorry plan to expand public funding for religious schools – why would the voters of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock simply roll over and accept Tory.

Which brings us to the provincial Liberals and NDP. It is sometimes customary for parties not to contest party leaders who are trying to get a seat in the Legislature. But this is a tradition that needs to end. I don’t live in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be treated with such disdain that politicians would just expect me to accept a one-party, one-candidate ballot. That’s not democracy, and voters should urge the other parties to field candidates against Tory.

Is Tory – who has proven himself to be a political loser on multiple fronts and barely has two-thirds support of his own party’s legislative caucus – so full of himself that he expects voters in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock to accept him no questions asked?

If a by-election is called, so be it, but it should be an election, not a coronation.

 

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