Some Conservative friends want to run a want ad for the opening at Queen’s Park. They want to fill the position of Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and Leader of the Ontario Conservative Party. The previous job holder, Tiny Tim Hudak, appears to have left the building.
It is not as though Timmy has given up. Nor has he resigned. They just think it is time for Timmy to admit that he is not up to the job. It is time to end the embarrassment. Timmy just needs to look back to his predecessor, John Tory. John knew when it was time to resign. He gave the party his best shot. He did not need to be told when to turn in his key to the leader’s office. He left with grace and his head held high.
Now is Timmy’s time. He gave it his best shot in the last Ontario election. He has had more than a year as Leader of the Opposition in a minority house of cards. He effectively turned the job of Leader of the Opposition over to New Democrat Andrea Horwath. And Andrea pulled it off with her virtue intact. There were no demands on her. She even kept the job alive when the former Premier prorogued the Legislature so that the Liberals could have some playtime to pick a new leader.
And now there is a new leader and a new Throne Speech and all that Timmy finds to say is that the new cabinet is too big and he will not support the speech. First of all, Timmy has to understand that you end up with a lot of political debts to pay when you win both the Leader’s and Premier’s job at the same time. And everyone understands that the Leader of the Opposition will not support the Throne Speech but you are also supposed to pick a few things from it and propose alternatives. That is the job stupid!
Instead of doing his job in the old tried and proven ways, Timmy has been showering the news media with supposed white papers of policy alternatives that are of no interest to anybody. His transit solutions could cost him the vote of every Conservative on Toronto City Council. His white paper on post-secondary education is earning him derision from students and academics across the province.
What Conservatives are now realizing is that Tiny Tim has stopped trying to build to win in Ontario. He is using politics of division. He divides people not to conquer but purely for the sake of dividing. He wants to see the day that we have walled cities again to keep his rural riff-raff away from the decent people. He does not understand that some of those decent people are well-meaning but obviously misguided Conservatives.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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