Hudak faces music at convention
Disappointing election result dogs Tory leader at Niagara Falls meeting
NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.— Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has come to Canada’s honeymoon capital hoping for some love from his party.
But it won’t be all wine and roses for Hudak on the last weekend before Valentine’s Day as he faces a mandatory leadership review and a contentious PC presidential race.
As 1,600 Tories gather for their first convention since Premier Dalton Mcguinty’s Liberals defeated them on Oct. 6, there is lingering bitterness at the loss of a third consecutive election.
“This is a chance for PC members to vote whether they want me to stay on as leader or if they want another option,” Hudak told reporters Friday at the Scotiabank Convention Centre.
He is expected to easily win Saturday’s leadership review, though the 81 per cent threshold achieved by Mcguinty at the Liberals’1999 convention — after a similarly disappointing election — may be elusive.
“I’m not putting a particular number out there,” the PC leader said of his percentage target. “I feel good about that vote. I take no vote for granted.”
In a mea culpa of sorts, he explained how his party squandered last summer’s double-digit lead in public opinion polls and allowed the Liberals to squeak by, albeit with a minority government. “It’s almost like I auditioned to be Opposition leader. I told you what was wrong with the government and I got the job I auditioned for,” he said. The main forum for party members’ discontent is Sunday’s presidential race. “Are You Tired of Losing Elections?” shouts the glossy leaflet being distributed by youthful supporters of presidential hopeful Richard Ciano, the well-funded front-runner to succeed departing president Ken Zeise.
Ciano, 37, with fellow consultant Nick Kouvalis, runs Campaign Research, which helped elect Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto in 2010.
John Snobelen, 57, a popular former cabinet minister, is the party establishment’s choice for president, but insiders say he has been outspent three or four to one in the race for the volunteer post.
Kevin Gaudet, 43, former federal and Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a defeated PC candidate, is the third presidential hopeful. Both Ciano and Gaudet have strongly criticized Hudak’s inner circle of campaign advisers — most of whom have ducked this convention — while Snobelen has been more measured.
Posing for the cameras with the “three outstanding, dedicated Conservatives,” Hudak admitted the contest has been heated.
“I know some people may take the view that a healthy, vigorous debate in the presidency is risky, that it might cause us some difficult media stories,” he said.
“I think an honest, hard-fought debate is actually healthy for our party. It will help us reconnect to the grassroots and build going forward.”