Party dissenters insist 50.1% won't be enough for him to keep his job

Jan 26, 2008 04:30 AM
Robert Benzie
Rob Ferguson
Queen's Park Bureau

What is Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory's magic number?

That question is swirling like a tornado at Queen's Park in the wake of his insistence he will remain at the helm if more than 50 per cent of delegates vote No to a leadership review at the party's Feb. 23 convention in London.

In a wide-ranging interview, Tory emphasizes that the only number that counts is the one in the party's constitution.

"The rules are very clear that 50.1 per cent is what you require either way in order to have the motion carried one way or another – 50.1 per cent is what's called a first-ballot win on the leadership convention itself," he says.

"I'm just going by the rules. To start speculating on numbers – any number at all – I mean other than what's in the rules I think is unwise."

University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman agrees.

"If you set a number you're setting yourself up for a fall," says Wiseman.

Tory has been under pressure to quit since losing the Oct. 10 election to Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals largely because of the unpopular PC campaign promise to fund all faith-based schools.

Wiseman says Tory's "obstinacy" led the party to stick with the ill-fated policy for too long, sabotaging what was a shot at a Conservative victory.

While Tory accepts blame for the electoral imbroglio and has renounced the religious schools' scheme, dissidents are demanding his head.

They ruefully point out that the 2003 Toronto mayoral runner-up failed to break through in his hometown, losing Don Valley West to Education Minister Kathleen Wynne.

They bleat that his campaign team was ill-prepared despite McGuinty instituting a fixed election date, which relinquished the governing party's traditional element of surprise.

Complete story at the Toronto Star

Note: Let's hope that University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman can attend the PC Party convention to see all the "rural yahoos" the party has to offer and what little wheels with no horsepower the YES campaign is. What is it that leads some people to believe that Toronto is Ontario's only "urban" centre?