And now there are three. The kid in short pants has moved up. Now he can come third. It certainly confirms the opinion that former provincial Conservative leader, Timmy Hudak fouled the nest.
A week ago we were writing about the four provincial members and the one federal member who were jousting for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership. It is all for nought. We might as well forget about the subject until May when Christine Elliott will be crowned. It was like the ground hog seeing his shadow last week. The sensible forecast was for a long cold winter to come.
But we will not have Vic Fedeli to kick around any more. The North Bay MPP did not see his shadow either on Groundhog Day and decided that a trip south would be more productive than the leadership race. He gave his blessing to Christine Elliott and saved his supporters the $50,000 that the PC Party wanted this week from each contender to stay in the leadership race.
Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod had even better news early in the week when Nepean MP John Baird announced he is resigning. In fear of anyone who might not be a guaranteed vote getter getting the nomination, the party has turned to MacLeod. While no Nepean native is eager to drive down the Queensway to Ottawa to work, there could be perks if she makes it into a Harper cabinet. And even as a back-bench Conservative MP, she will make more than a provincial MPP.
With both Fedeli and MacLeod out of the running, it is hard to call this a race. It is now a farce. And we are not trying to disparage Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton. McNaughton is the darling of the social conservatives and is running on a solid platform of putting an end to wind turbines, abortions, same-sex marriage and the use of the word ‘progressive’ in the party name.
And that leaves the kid in short pants from Barrie. He is having fun. His competitors have finally realized that Brown has been wholesaling party memberships to ethnic groups in Ontario. They are waiting to see if he has really swamped the few red Tories left in the province. It all depends on whether he has been able to spread those memberships across enough electoral districts.
This leadership event is probably the only political theatre we have going for us this spring in Ontario. We should all be mindful of the continued good health of Oshawa’s MPP Christine Elliott. She is all the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario have.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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