CFN – So the dust is settling on the 2014 Ontario Election. Many Conservatives are crying foul and uttering complaints that Ontario voters are in fact nuts!
They can’t believe that Premier Wynne won a MAJORITY for the scandal ridden former McGuinty Liberals. Frankly I’m shocked myself.
The sole blame has to be put at the feet of the PC party themselves. Yes certain unions are gloating and claiming victory and somehow that weird, and wacky Andrea Horwath is claiming victory for getting a seat or two more even though she lost total relevance for her and her party by pulling down the Liberals and now facing a majority; but at the end of the day it was the PC’s that chose to hang on to their leader and his brain trust and team that led off the campaign by literally hitting the self-destruct button.
Ms Wynne didn’t run that great a campaign. She was brutal in the debates barely able to stay afloat against Hudak and Horwath which isn’t much to brag about as neither of them was terribly effective.
Hudak’s claims of being honest? Well they probably were as honest as those Unions that want fresh meals in Hospitals when we all know what they want is more union jobs in hospitals. Nothing wrong with that; but why not call the spade a spade?
And that’s part of what’s wrong with politics. It’s a mix of bribes; promises nobody really expects to be kept, and spin.
The PC’s now have to question what and who they really are? While retaining some seats out here in Eastern Ontario they lost the centre and core of the province.
They can’t win with with the Randy Hillier’s and Lisa MacLeod’s. They need to find a leader that will resonate with the very people they alienated this election.
Even those union people know the province can’t go much more at this debt level without serious impacts on the economy and eventually their own jobs.
If this election gave us anything to think about it is that if we wait until the bitter end to resolve an issue you just might be forced into the kind of cuts that cost Tim Hudak his political career. He will not be remembered well. It also should be forcing us to ask the tough questions about how much control these big unions have on the Province and how the heck they are keeping us captive?
And yes, any new PC leader will be attacked by the Grits just like the Federal PC’s do to anyone that takes on the Liberal leadership.
But this is now a window for the party to decide what it truly wants to be. And if that image is something that appeals to more than the stodgy, aging, way too Right status quo they just might have a shot in the next election. If they act like the Liberals themselves, expect a deep civil war within the party.
My hunch is the next PC leader doesn’t come from any of the current elected MPP’s. They need a rock star that will play reasonably well in the 416 and 905.
Doug Ford of all people put it best in a recent Sun article:
“You can’t win Ontario unless you pick a leader who can win a few seats in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, Vaughan, Mississauga and Brampton,” he said.
“I think we have to clean out the whole PC Association from the president all the way down. We have to open the doors to the union members who’ve voted for fiscal conservatives for years and this time they couldn’t vote for the plan.”
What do you think Ontario? You can post your comments below.
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Doug Ford and the widow of the finance minister come to mind as good candidates. This should be interesting to find out who will win. If you get a decent person in as opposition who can make the next majority government then I will be a the polls. When you have a Three Stooges and Monty Python poll then you can’t blame those of us who didn’t vote for such a calamity.
Jamie, to be honest, I wasn’t suprised by the result of this election at all. This was a totally winnable election for the Conservatives, and even the NDP…what happens? Hudak has to wave around that ridiculous ‘ Million job 100,000 layoff’ like he was a Tea Party candidate, and his so called ‘braintrust’ were so inflexible, they couldn’t see what was out there. Toronto decides how the rest of us live, again, and hey folks; then Standard & Poors, and quite possibly the IMF start raising alarm bells about the fiscal mess our province is in..and when Premier Wynn shows up on our Televisions one night near future with a ‘Serious’ message about how the Liberals have to start doing all the things that needed to be done to get the house back in order…when then the Unions start screaming about ‘betrayal’…when more manufacturing jobs go South, or to Latin America, or China or India….when those massive public service pensions start coming due when the large amounts of retirements start….when ALL of these bills come due, and you’re looking around to blame a politican for the gigantic mess…Look in the mirror, folks. You put them there. Congrats to Premier Wynn for winning. I don’t envy your job over the next term, but I do know you’ll get the usual puff piece treatment from the media. Good luck, you’re going to need it. We all will.
Yes Jim, none of the leaders visited this riding in the election….
Surely the Cons will come up with a new leader that isn’t a weasel or a buffoon or a thug or a snake. The weasel is finally stepping down, and they now have the opportunity to put someone in who has some moral integrity and a brain. If they choose Randy Hillier (buffoon) or Doug Ford (thug) or Tony “Gazebo” Clement (snake), the Libs and Dippers will be over the moon with joy.
LOL LOL. ROLF! Furtz you sure have them all pegged and I can’t stop laughing. I think that when it comes time to vote for PC I am going to have to consult you before I go to the poles. LOL LOL. You are a riot. I can’t stop laughing.
All the ammunition was there for the PC’s, but alas, no gun and no one to pull the trigger if there had been one. This outcome was predictable because of the simple fact that Hudak should have lost a leadership review after the previous election. Hopefully the new leader chosen is not the typical stereotyped career politician but rather someone that voters young and old can identify with. An individual that can paint the provincial picture, present and future, with images that all can readily identify and relate to.
Doug Ford has a grip on the Conservative reality, I believe. A fresh face is the need though, I agree with Furtz. Someone with humility and class and a keen mind who can call a spade a spade and not engage in mindless classroom antics in the legislature.
After what was on the news June 14, I think maybe the whole election should be scrapped, voting was being totaled on Liberal canidates numbers not on the Conservatives, now how many more mistakes like this is there out in the ridings…………could say it spells bad.
When the next election comes up I will take Furtz word and even Mr. Oldham’s and others. I knew that Hudak (who dat) was not the right person for the job and he is McGuinty’s cousin and when Winnie is not the right material either I was not going to go to the polls and make a huge mistake. I want to vote for someone who will do a good job and turn Ontario around back to being a prosperous province instead of a have not. Also debts have to be paid and Winnie cannot continue destroying Ontario and Canada.
@ Debbie McAuley. I’m pretty sure with an election this important there would be scrutineers from all three parties at each poll checking the vote counts.
@ David. You are correct about Hudak. Most people, including a lot of Cons couldn’t believe that they’d keep him on as leader after blowing an easily winnable election the first time.
The Cons screwed up by pulling out their 100k PS job cuts / 1 million job plan far too early. It gave the Fiberals and NDP plenty of ammo for the remainder of the campaign.
Debbie McAuly, the people working the polls are paid, but volunteer with a day training to work the polls. There are checks and balances to reduce the stuffing of ballot boxes, are you saying there is fraud?
The poll boxes are sealed before being shipped out from each station, poll clerks submit hourly accounting of voting numbers, and each ballot has a serial number. Each party either sends out scrutineers for site checks or even have them in the hall for periods of time.
@ Eric. Things might have changed since I was a volunteer scrutineer at a local poll about 25 years ago. We had no training, and all the ballets were counted and sorted, and then re-checked by the scrutineers. Once all that was done, the results were phoned in.
maybe having included a moratorium on wind in their platform hurt, consider the facts, Green Energy Act and development of renewable energy in Ontario has created a significant number of jobs, but also has put Ontario on the map internationally since it is acting locally but thinking globally.
@ProGreen…perhaps if “green” wasn’t expensive Ontarians would embrace it. What wind and solar farm operators get for producing this unreliable form of energy is obscene. The price wind and solar farm operators get is part of the big problem.
ProGreen, a moratorium would not go far enough and we are on the map, the debt map. Ontario with 13 million people has more debt than California with 38 million.
http://business.financialpost.com/2014/06/12/kathleen-wynnes-reality-ontarios-massive-debt-cannot-be-ignored/
Seriously Eric, Theresa Tedesco is about as impartial as Ezra Levant when it comes to economics or politics. These Hudak worshipers will be predicting the end of civilization for a few more weeks until they get over their disappointment with the defeat of their party.
With Hudak resigning July 2 who is going to be acting leader until the leadership convention? I hate “acting” leaders. Kathleen Wynne won the leadership of the Fiberals when McGuinty resigned as Premier to avoid charges, inquiries, etc. But yet not being elected by the people she was able to assume the role of premier?? NOT RIGHT!!
Hugger, According to two party insiders, who wish to remain anonymous, that I spoke to yesterday, there is a serious effort on right now to recruit Mr. Bean to fill in as interim leader. Their second choice is Peewee Herman.
No Furtz, the glass ceiling wouldn’t allow Paul Reubens to be the PC party leader; Liberals for sure; NDP maybe, but not looking Blue.
They might have to skip Reubens and work on Doug Ford. Don Cherry has turned down the offer, as has Eddie Shack.