Hudak critics within party will be heard

Leadership review motion to be discussed at convention

Party members upset with Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s leadership will get a chance to vent their frustrations at a policy convention next month after a controversial motion was given the green light.

The motion to create a new mechanism to force a leadership review — put forward by a small group of disgruntled members from London, where the Tories lost a byelection earlier this month — was accepted by the party’s constitution committee over the weekend, though many doubt it will garner the necessary support of two-thirds of delegates to amend the constitution.

The party was victorious in one of five byelections held on Aug. 1. The Liberals and New Democrats each won two. Under the current PC constitution, the loss of a general election triggers a mandatory leadership review, but some members pin the lacklustre byelections results on Hudak and are calling for a review now.

When Hudak’s leadership was last reviewed in February 2012 — several months after losing the 2011 election, 78.7 per cent voted against a leadership election.

The current motion, which has won the support of two outspoken caucus members, including Randy Hillier, the MPP from Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, will be debated next month when party delegates gather for a three-day convention in London.

Hillier said conventions provide an opportunity for members to bring forth ideas, express them and put them on the floor for debate.

“If the membership views that they have merit, then they get adopted; if they view that they don’t have merit, then they get shelved,” he said Tuesday.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to work and I’m glad that it is indeed working that way this time around.”

Hillier, who sought the leadership in 2009 but lost to Hudak, wouldn’t say whether he thinks the motion has merit, pledging to reserve judgment until the debate occurs.

Hudak’s defenders, meanwhile, have been out in full force since the concerns about his leadership were raised. Federal Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod have both spoken out in Hudak’s favour and against those who are giving the criticism any oxygen, saying the party’s real focus should be on defeating Premier Kathleen Wynne’s minority Liberal government.

The internal dissent has also led to the creation of a website called Let Tim Lead, launched by party members to let people use social media to trumpet their affection for Hudak, who has led the Tories since 2009.

Mark Hardwick, a web developer who volunteered on the Tories’ 2011 campaign, says he launched the site to “show our support for Tim.”

“(He’s) doing the things he needs to do to win the next election,” Hardwick said.