For months – and going back to the recruitment of Benedict Baldy – I’ve been hearing from Ontario Conservatives who are livid about the way Ontario PC “leader” Tim Hudak has been dealing with the party’s grassroots.  In his mad scramble to recruit “star” candidates, Hudak has linked up with some very shady characters, and stomped all over the democracy he once promised to uphold.

This Star story suggests that some of these Ontario Cons are now giving voice to their dissatisfaction.  This could get interesting, as they say.

“The Progressive Conservative Party is under fire for effectively anointing so-called star candidates by squeezing out others interested in running.

Conservative insiders are saying privately they are not happy with the way high-profile candidates are being parachuted in while others are being told to hit the road.

The latest example was Ottawa Citizen columnist Randall Denley getting the seal of approval by Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak Tuesday to run for the nomination of Ottawa West—Nepean.

“This is not how our party is supposed to work,” said one member, a supporter of a rival candidate, who was among those asked to quietly bow out.

“What about the people who work hard for years to win a nomination fair and square?”

Denley once described Hudak as a cartoon character and often criticized the Tory leader for opposing the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax, which Denley said was good for business.

The Progressive Conservative Party is under fire for effectively anointing so-called star candidates by squeezing out others interested in running.

Conservative insiders are saying privately they are not happy with the way high-profile candidates are being parachuted in while others are being told to hit the road.

The latest example was Ottawa Citizen columnist Randall Denley getting the seal of approval by Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak Tuesday to run for the nomination of Ottawa West—Nepean.

“This is not how our party is supposed to work,” said one member, a supporter of a rival candidate, who was among those asked to quietly bow out.

“What about the people who work hard for years to win a nomination fair and square?”

Denley once described Hudak as a cartoon character and often criticized the Tory leader for opposing the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax, which Denley said was good for business.”

 

Comments (5)

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who spoke last week at the Wolfond Centre for Jewish Life as part of a political speaker series aimed at young Jewish professionals, said that part of his plan to build a stronger Ontario is to work with Israel.

McGuinty presented his plan for jobs and growth, health care, education, electricity and tax reform to about 100 people at the event organized by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

No doubt catering to his mostly Jewish audience, McGuinty  began by acknowledging Ontario’s Jewish population of more than 200,000 as a community that is committed to “shared success.”

 

Comments (2)

“@cemorley: Today @OntLiberal’s introduced a law to ban the dirty tricks that prevented Ontarians from voting in the federal election. #onpoli”

Comments (3)

Just received, from a well-known Lib who shall remain nameless:

“Anyone notice that al-Qaeda named an interim leader faster than us?”

Comments (15)

A Facebook thing has started up, urging the Liberal Party “president” to do what Michael Ignatieff did, and accept responsibility for the party’s massive loss.

And, from this morning, Mark Dunn – a Sun colleague and, like me, a one-time Grit staffer – writes a top-notch piece on why Apps’ presidency is an unmitigated train wreck, and needs to be brought to an end.

Bottom line: RESIGN, ALF APPS.  WE CAN’T REBUILD UNTIL YOU’RE GONE.

And if he won’t resign, fire him.

Comments (44)

Judicial recount confirms Liberal win in Winnipeg North: Elections Canada (Recount-Winnipeg)
Source: The Canadian Press
May 17, 2011 11:12

---

OTTAWA – Elections Canada says a judicial recount has confirmed the election victory of Liberal Kevin Lamoureux in Winnipeg North.

In the election night count, Lamoureux finished with a 45-vote lead over New Democrat Rebecca Blaikie.

The judicial recount reduced Lamoureux’s margin to 44 votes, giving him 9,097 to Blaikie’s 9,053.

Lamoureux first won the riding in a byelection last November.

The recount leaves the Liberals with 34 seats, the NDP with 103 and the Tories 166, along with four Bloc MPs and Elizabeth May of the Greens.

Two more recounts are pending in southern Ontario.

INDEX: NATIONAL POLITICS

 

Comments (9)

• “People will rightly look to PC Leader Tim Hudak for guidance, since his party is leading in the polls. So far, there isn’t much to see. Hudak’s comment that he is consulting “moms and dads and small-business owners” is just inane.” December 10, 2010
• “Some have idly suggested Watson wanted out of Queen’s Park for fear the Liberal reign there was coming to an end, though that’s unlikely given the invisible far-right performance of Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak.” July 28, 2010
• “PC leader Tim Hudak has helped McGuinty by presenting himself as a cartoon character.” May 6, 2010
• “…Tim Hudak’s tactics in opposing the [HST] plan have been juvenile and ineffective. Hudak plays politics like the Ottawa Senators’ Chris Neil plays hockey. There’s lots of banging and crashing, but not much to show on the scoreboard.” December 7, 2009
• “New Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak managed to grab some media attention in his first couple of days on the job, which is pretty important considering that most people have probably never heard of him. Too bad what he had to say was the predictable, kneejerk stuff one has come to expect from opposition leaders…The role of official pest has to be balanced by something of substance, and Hudak has a lot of work to do there.” June 30, 2009

Comments (7)

When you consider the distant, third-place finish by the Liberal Party of Canada, it’s frankly amazing people are still writing about them.

Like, um, I am about to.

In my defence, I plead a legitimate excuse: I’m a Liberal.

For other members of the punditocracy, however — and particularly since the party’s devastating finish in the 2011 federal general election — my suspicion is they continue to write about the Liberal Party purely out of habit. They, too, remember the years when the Grits were the “Natural Governing Party,” and they can’t quite come to grips with what took place on the evening of May 2, 2011.

That, or — as the cliche goes — “if it bleeds, it leads.” The Liberal Party continues to bleed profusely, and reporters have settled in to chronicle the carnage.

Here, then, are some dispatches from the blood-stained Liberal front, and the names of the wounded and the fallen. Strap on your helmets, folks:

 

Comments (34)

He was a good City Editor.

As a PC candidate, he’s about to be less-than-good. I know him.

Oh, and everything he ever wrote about politics?

Well, now we know why he wrote what he did. It was all BS.

Comments (14)

Roxy talks to me all the time.  What’s the big deal?

Comments (6)