Bye Bye John Tory! - Who's next?

[Wild Bill]

Well, it seems Mr. Tory has bitten the dust! Oh well, once again he and his advisers blew it. The people in the riding apparently resented losing their regular MPP who stepped down for Tory. What's more, this was a more rural riding and many of them it seems thought of him as a big city, 'Toronto' guy. Whatever, The incumbent had won last time by about 15,000 votes and Tory lost by some 200. That means at least 15,201 voters abandoned their allegiance to the provincial Tories over the choice of Tory over Scott.

Tory always seemed like a genuine nice guy but he sure made some gaffes during his reign. Some pundits are suggesting Tim Hudak as his replacement. Tim seems to have his feet on the ground. No other names come to mind as leadership contenders at the moment. There seems to be a dearth of high-profile candidates.

Maybe this is an opportunity to get on a winning path. One of the problems with the Ontario Tories is that they've always been afraid to be Tories! We had years of pink Toryism with Bill Davis but after he retired we began to see a conflict between the red and blue sides of the caucus. Usually the red side was in control. It was only when the party was so far down that no one thought they had a chance of winning that they allowed Mike Harris to take a shot. He promptly gave them the two largest majorities they ever had!

When Mike stepped down all the talking heads fell all over themselves claiming that his approach was now poison to the voters and a more 'centre' approach was needed. So Ernie Eves was presented as not just 'Harris Lite' but 'Harris VERY Lite!'.

We don't know if the electorate was really against more Harris-style conservatism. The premise was never tested at the ballot box. One thing was obvious: Ernie went down in flames!

Tory was another Red Tory. He flamed out in 2007 and now in this byelection.

So maybe this is a chance for a Blue Tory to take another run at it! After all, why should a liberal-friendly voter support a Red Tory? Why not just vote Liberal?

Successful provincial premiers like Harris and Ralph Klein won votes because they provided a clear choice from their opponents and also DID WHAT THEY SAID! Of course this repelled some voters but the record shows they attracted far more.

A Blue Tory is not likely to sweep 416 Toronto but so what? You'd have to be left of Dennis Miller to sweep Toronto so why bother trying? It no longer seems possible to please both Toronto voters and those in the rest of the province. They are two completely different species.

Anybody else got any ideas on what the provincial Conservatives in Ontario should do?

[Average Joe]

Very nice summation Wild Bill. I too believe someone should take the reins who is different than the Fiberals. Give people a clear choice between parties and see where the cards fall, trying to be something for everyone doesn't seem to work.

Call Harris what you want but he did what he said he was going to do and I respect that more than anything even if I didn't agree with all of it. We need more politicians to do just that, this crap of telling me that it is raining as you are pissing on my leg is getting old. Tell me what you stand for and let the chips fall where they may but human nature will not let them, they need to lie and cheat the achieve their own personal goals of power.

All parties seem to change with the wind on policies to make sure they are still popular.

[Oleg Bach]

Very nice summation Wild Bill. I too believe someone should take the reins who is different than the Fiberals. Give people a clear choice between parties and see where the cards fall, trying to be something for everyone doesn't seem to work.

Call Harris what you want but he did what he said he was going to do and I respect that more than anything even if I didn't agree with all of it. We need more politicians to do just that, this crap of telling me that it is raining as you are pissing on my leg is getting old. Tell me what you stand for and let the chips fall where they may but human nature will not let them, they need to lie and cheat the achieve their own personal goals of power.

All parties seem to change with the wind on policies to make sure they are still popular.

Harris was a good golfer and a good actor. He knew one thing and that was how to take direction. He kept it simple and did what was expected. Ruling by poll has always bugged me. What do these guys in government do? Do they sit around and discuss how they are going to stay in power and remain numb and static till the next poll results comes in? If the polls say that 52% of Canadians want the freedom to marry their dogs - do they say --- get on that one" - Get the spinners in and write me a speach how dogs are part of the family and to deny a mutt the right to the marriage bed is unconstitutional? AND if anyone who does not want dog hair and dander on their clean white sheets and kicks the mutt out....will a law be passed to fine the owner ...sorry care giver.

[madmax]

A Blue Tory is not likely to sweep 416 Toronto but so what? You'd have to be left of Dennis Miller to sweep Toronto so why bother trying? It no longer seems possible to please both Toronto voters and those in the rest of the province. They are two completely different species.

Anybody else got any ideas on what the provincial Conservatives in Ontario should do?

I bumped into Toby Barrett, outside of his riding..... Twice in the last week. Once before the Election and once after. He has wasted no time in Promoting Hudak. Of course I had to wonder if Bill Murdoch had a smile on his face after John Tory Lost.