Ontario PCs handcuff their Cambridge members — again

The plot sickens.

Already, two Progressive Conservative candidate nomination meetings in Cambridge have been scheduled and then cancelled — wasting precious time for the candidates.

Now, a third meeting has been announced to choose the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial election.

Party headquarters has finally decided on April 14 for the nomination meeting, at the Paragon Banquet Hall in the Armenian Community Centre.

Potential candidates have until this Friday to declare their interest, which means more people could still enter the race in addition to established candidates Sunny Attwal and Bert Laranjo.

“It’s not helpful, for sure,” said Peter Tudisco, a member of the riding association’s nomination committee.

Part of his frustration is the lack of time the new candidate will have to meet voters.

“This is the third time we’ve had to regroup and revisit this nomination,” he said. “It should have been done months ago.”

If party central were acting rationally, Cambridge would be an easy win. The riding swung between Tories and New Democrats for decades. For 19 years, from 1995 to 2014, it was held by Progressive Conservative MPPs Gerry Martiniuk and then Rob Leone.

In 2014, current MPP Kathryn McGarry won the seat for the Liberals. She’s popular locally, but her government isn’t.

Yet Progressive Conservative party headquarters have made so many blunders in Cambridge, you almost wonder if an undercover Liberal agent infiltrated it.

First there was the threat of parachuted candidates. Tanya Khattra, a Calgary dentist, dropped out of the race after the out-of-province candidate caused an outcry last fall. The nomination meeting was cancelled. Another meeting was scheduled for March 24, and it too was abruptly cancelled with no explanation.

Between the first and the second aborted meetings, there was a lot happening. Former leader Patrick Brown was forced to resign over allegations of sexual impropriety: he says he has done nothing wrong, and is suing to clear his name.

A party leadership contest was won by Doug Ford. Tanya Granic Allen, the leadership candidate who helped Ford, considered running in Cambridge but retreated after another outcry about candidates from outside the riding.

Meanwhile, Jim Karahalios, a Cambridge lawyer and party activist who fought against what he saw as Brown’s interference in the nomination process, was welcomed back into the party with an apology. Under Brown he had his membership revoked in November. Jim’s wife, Belinda, is now thinking of running as the Cambridge candidate.

“Our focus should be on unity and winning elections,” said Vic Fedeli, the former interim leader who has been charged with internal reform of the party, as he welcomed Karahalios back.

Fair enough. But how can Cambridge Progressive Conservatives focus on unity when party headquarters cancel and reschedule nomination meetings with no explanation?

And how can they focus on winning the election with such a short time between the announcement of the candidate on April 14 and the final say of the voters on June 7?