A high profile politician has come and gone through Norfolk and our mayor didn't even know he was coming. MPP Toby Barrett toured downtown Delhi with Ontario's PC leader John Tory on Friday. Barrett calls the work ahead a collaborative effort on saving small rural communities. However Norfolk Mayor Dennis Travale would like to know how Tory and Barrett will establish these roles - something that requires open dialogue when they failed to notify the Mayor, or anyone else from Council about the visit. Travale says this marks the second time the leader of the opposition has entered into the community without so much as a courtesy call.
Sun, January 13, 2008
John Tory will need the support of a lot of angry Conservatives if he's going to win the next election
By JOHN SNOBELEN
You would like Reuben Devlin. He is bright, energetic, articulate and humorous. He is also not afraid to let people know how he feels and what he believes in.
Reuben has been a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party for years. He has served on the executive, worked on campaigns and put up his own cash to help win elections. It's no surprise that Reuben was disappointed with the election results in October. It's also no surprise he's angry.
This week Reuben ruffled a few Conservative feathers when he called on the party to play fair in selecting the delegates for the February convention where the issue of John Tory's leadership will be considered.
Reuben believes the party is trying hard to stack the deck with supportive delegates who will vote "no" to a leadership review.
Rightly or wrongly, delegated conventions tend to devolve into food fights and the sort of back room manoeuvring most of us find repugnant. In normal circumstances, the party executive is neutral and referees the infighting, but a leadership review is an anomaly.
Tory is the leader of the party and the party executive is charged with being loyal to the leader. It's hard to walk that line and be fair to party members who want a leadership contest.
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The anyone-but-John-Tory bandwagon
Written by Paul Synnott
The anyone-but-John-Tory bandwagon has plenty of passengers, but no driver
Headshot of Murray Campbell
MURRAY CAMPBELL
January 12, 2008
The battle over John Tory's future features the usual websites and accusations that the process for determining whether he stays on as Progressive Conservative Leader is rigged. What it's missing is Brian Mulroney.
Not the former prime minister himself, of course, but someone willing to play the same role he did in toppling Joe Clark from the leadership of the federal Conservatives nearly 25 years ago. On the surface, Mr. Mulroney was supporting Mr. Clark as he faced a leadership review vote, but everyone knew that Mr. Mulroney's supporters were working behind the scenes to oust his rival.
Mr. Tory is being spared such surreptitious insurrections. As he heads to a late February vote on whether Ontario Conservatives want to have a leadership convention, there is no one around whom the disaffected can gather. It's the nature of political parties - no one wants to mount a challenge that could fail. (It is a measure of Mr. Mulroney's confidence that he was as brazen as he was in taking on Mr. Clark.)
Mr. Tory's detractors are not encouraging speculation about pretenders to the throne.
"I would hope they wouldn't come forward," said Nick Kouvalis, a Windsor Conservative activist whose anti-Tory website (draftaleader.com) has become prominent in the past few weeks. "They would become a target ... and it would be John comparing himself to them."
There's a growing movement in the Ontario Tory party that its eponymously named leader should go - sooner rather than later.
We frankly can't understand why it's taken them this long to figure that out.
When John Tory failed not only to be elected premier Oct. 10, but even failed to win his own seat, the death knell should have started ringing.
However, it if did, it was not heard, especially not by him.
He blithely - some said bravely - carried on and apparently is taking his duties as Opposition Leader very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he is determined to be opposed to everything - even the new, statutory Family Day holiday Ontarians are all set to enjoy Feb. 18.
Conservative blogger B-Double of Conservative Hipster has some valid questions to ask regarding the Together with Tory website.
Site Tune-up
Written by Paul Synnott
There were some problems with the site's commenting system that were preventing people from posting their opinions. The old software was conflicting with the site. We have installed new commenting software and imported all the old comments.
We apologize to all those who have tried to comment and received "Your comment cannot be processed" messages.
We will continue to monitor comments to ensure everything has been resolved. If you have any problems, please email info@draftaleader.com
Apparently, NOW it's time to listen to the grassroots and seek input from ordinary members. We think it's a great idea - so great that we're going to join in. Visit John Tory's new website and share your opinions, then return to our What I Told John page and share your opinion with us.
John Tory: Ontario’s Hillary Clinton
Written by Paul Synnott
By Arthur Weinreb Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory has something in common with US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. No, it’s not their political philosophy, although that would be a good guess.
Hillary had a little meltdown after finishing third behind Barack Obama and John Edwards in the Iowa caucuses last week. As her eyes welled up with tears, she talked about how the campaign was personal to her. “I have so many opportunities for the country” she said as she played the victim card that no doubt helped propel her to victory in the New Hampshire primary. In her mind, the presidential election campaign is not about the United States or its people or even the Iraq war. It’s all about her. Which brings us to John Tory.
If anything Tory is much more adept at using the “I” word than the former First Lady is. Tory doesn’t much care about Ontarians or their problems. To him his leadership is all about him. He made mistakes; he’ll do better; he wants to hold onto his job despite a move of some of the party faithful to replace him before the next election that will be held in October, 2011.
In what was perhaps the most masterful piece of spin in the history of the province, Tory even rationalized losing his own seat last October. The PC leader said that it’s a good thing because it gives him an opportunity to travel the province and no doubt boost his already inflated ego. And besides, the legislature is a waste of time. If John Tory could have spun like that back in 1993, he would probably be lounging around the Senate Chamber right now, occasionally glancing at legislation that was sent there from the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Kim Campbell.
Ontario's Progressive Conservatives are entitled to have whoever they want as their leader, but they have a right to ask John Tory, their current leader, to give them a better understanding of where he would take them.
The Conservatives get their first chance to discuss Tory's leadership at the party's annual meeting in London next month. Delegates will vote on whether they want the party to hold a leadership review. Technically, Tory needs only 50 per cent of the votes to stay in his office. In reality, in order to be effective, he needs to do better than having the support of only half the party.
To be sure, Tory has many proven strengths. Before and during the last election, Ontarians regularly told pollsters that Tory was the most impressive and attractive leader of any provincial party. He has established himself as a politician of courage, integrity and compassion.
That said, to stay on Tory will have be upfront with his party in dealing with some recent items on his resume. Most significantly, he failed to lead his party to victory in last fall's provincial election. Instead of forming a government, the Conservatives won only 26 seats, far less than the Liberals who took 71 seats. Furthermore, Tory lost his own bid to remain in the legislature after he gave up a relatively safe seat to run against Education Minister Kathleen Wynne in Don Valley West.
But the crucial test comes at the party's convention on Feb. 23. Rueben Devlin, a former PC Party president, said he laun-ched the Grassroots PC campaign to replace Mr. Tory as leader because it is not good enough for him to say after the fact he has learned his lesson.
Mr. Tory said he has visited 50 ridings across the province since the election and has not seen any evidence that support for his continued leadership is waning. Besides, he said, other leaders, including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, have been given second chances. But Mr. Devlin said he believes his group has enough support from rank-and-file members to force a leadership review.
"There's no question there's momentum regarding the yes side for a leadership review," he said. In a position paper released yesterday, the group says "the reason why the people of Ontario rejected our party in the last election boils down to one thing - John Tory himself."
Mr. Tory accused the group of overreaching in its efforts to knock him down. "I think the notion that the great majority of people in the party would blame me for bad weather and every single thing that happened that was questionable - most people don't share that view."
Tue, January 8, 2008 Some party members want a leadership convention.
By CHIP MARTIN, SUN MEDIA
In the build-up to its Feb. 22 -24 general meeting in London, knives are being sharpened in Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party by those who want to oust leader John Tory.
In London itself, opinion appears divided.
A faction calling itself the grassroots has launched a website urging party members to vote for a subsequent leadership convention when the party members gather in numbers for the first time since the shellacking suffered in the Oct. 10 vote.
Meanwhile, Tory says he will "fight like hell" to keep his job. Meetings are being held around Ontario by riding associations to select delegates to the London convention.
A former party president, Rueben Devlin, contends Tory is the reason the party was routed and he's complaining the times and dates of delegate selection meetings are being withheld from members. All meetings must be held by Jan. 31. But only three -- all in December and in the Toronto area -- are posted on the party website. There are 107 ridings in all.
In wake of election defeat, campaign formally launched to remove PC leader at vote next month
Jan 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Striking back against dissidents working to unseat him, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory says he will "fight like hell" to remain at the helm of his party.
With the formal launch of a campaign to remove him as leader because of the Oct. 10 election defeat to Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, Tory talked tough yesterday.
Staring down a campaign by the recently formed group Grassroots PC, which is pushing for a Yes vote in the party's leadership review in London on Feb. 23, Tory said he deserves another shot.
"I say to them that I'm going to fight like hell to keep my job because I believe I can do that job best and that I can be a better premier than Dalton McGuinty in 2011," he said in an interview.
Admitting that promising to extend funding to faith-based schools was a mistake, Tory also accepted blame for organizational shortcomings that befell his campaign.
"I have acknowledged and taken responsibility for mistakes that I made and mistakes that others made because I'm the leader, and you have to take that responsibility. I've also learned from those mistakes and ... they won't be repeated," he said.
Tory, who is urging the 2,500 or so delegates to vote No to a leadership review, said he would remain leader as long he wins more than 50 per cent of the vote.
The party has begun updating the Events page on the PCPO website. We will continue to monitor the meetings listed and update our calendar.
Currently we have 53 7 ridings for which we have no information.
Members have been fantastic in forwarding details to us and we would ask everyone to continue. If you don't have meeting information, please forward the name and contact details for your Riding President, Vice-President or any other Executive member.
Under the current Convention rules, there are only four more days remaining for ridings to schedule meetings and properly inform their members in order to qualify delegates to the convention.
TORONTO — Disgruntled Conservatives who want to oust leader John Tory are being deliberately shut out of the party's annual meeting next month, the group's leader said Monday.
The party members have stepped up their bid to trigger a leadership review in the face of the party's disastrous Oct. 10 election campaign, considered by some to be the party's worst ever.
Rueben Devlin, the party's former president and one of the group's leaders, said many members have joined the grassroots group because they feel they are being deliberately shut out of the delegate selection process for the party's annual meeting in February.
The party is supposed to give 15 days notice of delegate selection meetings in each riding, but some party veterans have had trouble finding out about their meetings while others say their names have been left off the local riding association list.
“To try and keep this a secret, to keep lists a secret, does not speak to your belief in neutrality,” Mr. Devlin said. “Democracy is not only about supporting those people who support you. It's about supporting those people who disagree with you.”
Group launches campaign to review Tory's leadership
Written by Paul Synnott
MURRAY CAMPBELL
January 7, 2008
TORONTO -- The battle to oust Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory intensifies todaywith the launch of a campaign to press for a leadership review.
The Grassroots PC campaign, led by a former party president and a former Conservative MPP, believes that Mr. Tory's "devastatingly poor judgment" means he should no longer serve as leader.
A position paper to be released today notes that not only did the Conservatives lose the Oct. 10 election to Dalton McGuinty's Liberals but that the party also suffered a drop in popular support over the 2003 vote and Mr. Tory failed to win a seat.
"To this day, John believes that it was just a single issue - funding for religious schools - that caused our party's loss," said the paper's authors, former party president Rueben Devlin and Bart Maves, who represented Niagara Falls for two terms until 2003.
"The truth reveals a vastly different story. Unfortunately, the reason why the people of Ontario rejected our party in the last election boils down to one thing - John Tory himself."
LINDSAY -- Progressive Conservative leader John Tory says he has owned up to the mistakes he believes cost his party last fall's provincial election and said he is a stronger leader because of it.
During a stop in Lindsay yesterday afternoon, joining Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Conservative MPP Laurie Scott for a new year's levee, Tory said while it will ultimately be up to delegates at next month's convention, he is committed to rebuilding Ontario's Conservative party and developing a plan to see the Conservatives restored to power in 2011.
"Anytime you have an unsuccessful outing whether it is in business or on the farm or in politics, the first thing you have to do is to find out why you didn't succeed," Tory said.
"So I spent a lot of time having more than 12 meetings across the province every campaign manager, every candidate and other key people were invited to come out and talk about the mistakes that we made and what we need to do better to win in the next election."
Tory's bid to become Ontario premier was side-tracked last fall when his plan to provide funding to faith-based schools outside of the Catholic system dominated conversation and debate.
What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments
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Another anti-Tory group emerges
Written by Paul Synnott
Last Updated: Monday, January 7, 2008 | 8:30 AM ET
CBC News
Another group has come out against John Tory staying on as Ontario Conservative party leader.
An organization calling itself Grassroots PC wants delegates to the party's convention in February to vote in favour of holding a leadership review.
But Reuben Devlin, spokesperson for the group, says it has had problems getting information on when delegates are going to be chosen.
"We have had great difficulty in getting the [Progressive Conservative] party to post those on their website," said Devlin.
Organizers of other anti-Tory groups claim the party is not being impartial in the run-up to the February convention.
Nick Kouvalis of Draft a Leader, which opposes Tory, says party officials are refusing to post the information, making it difficult for Tory's opponents to get elected as delegates for the convention.
Here are two forms for use at Delegate Selection Meetings. One is in .pdf format, the other in Excel.
The form will allow you to list all the Yes Delegates you wish to vote for, along with alternates and youth delegates. Riding Organizers can use the Excel form to fill in the names of Yes Delegates and run off copies for Yes supporters attending the meeting. The .pdf can be printed off as a blank form and used at the meeting to ensure that all the Yes delegates get the votes required to attend the convention.
As the Party continues to be less than forthcoming with information on Delegate Selection meetings, we must rely on you, the members, to pass on any information that you may have.
The following ridings are ones for which we still have no confirmed information:
North West : Kenora–Rainy River, Thunder Bay-Superior North, Thunder Bay-Atitokan
North East: Algoma-Manitoulin, Nickel Belt, Nipissing, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins–James Bay
South West: Chatham-Kent-Essex, Huron Bruce, London-Fanshawe, Oxford, Perth-Wellington
South Central: Brant, Haldimand-Norfolk, Halton, Hamilton Centre, Hamilton Mountain, Niagara Falls, Oakville, Welland
Let's Get It Started... Part III - The latest video from the DraftALeader.com team.
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A changing of the guard?
Written by Paul Synnott
All three political parties at Queen's Park could have new leaders for the next election
Tory has been touring the province since the vote, shoring up his personal support. The question becomes how much support is enough? According to party rules, he only has to get 51% of delegates on-side. Practically, though, everyone acknowledges that he has to get solid support.
Tory has consistently refused to play a numbers game -- citing the 51% rule. Reasonably, though, a minimum would be 75%.
PCPO Convention Registration Form
Delegate Selection Planner (.xls)