Conservatives across Ontario find out today if Tim Hudak, the veteran MPP from Niagara, is the new leader of their party or if the job goes to one of his rivals.

A good part of politics happens to be timing,” Hudak said during a phone interview, reflecting on his 80-day campaign to become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party.

The 41-year-old politician has spent most of his adult life in public office. He was first elected in 1995 at the age of 27. Now, he’s the front-runner in the four-person race to replace John Tory, who resigned as party leader in March after failing to win a byelection in Lindsay. Tory ran there because he lost his own downtown Toronto seat in the 2007 general election.

A leadership campaign is a chance to put out where you, as a candidate, want to take the party and to run on your record as an MPP,” Hudak said.