First round results of the PC Party of Ontario are now in. Tim Hudak leads with 3,512 votes, followed by Frank Klees with 3,094, Christine Elliott with 2,729 and Randy Hillier at 1,014. Hillier will now be removed from the ballot and his votes redistributed based on his supporters’ second choice.
I really did think that Christine Elliott would be in second place at this point, but I congratulate Frank Klees on such a strong first ballot showing. This will surely go to three rounds since none can win on the second ballot with even 100 per cent of Hillier’s vote. The second round will decide who will make it to the third and final ballot.
I believe Hudak will benefit the most from Hiller being dropped. Look for him to pick up about 700 former Hillier votes, moving him to the final round in a strong position to carry the day. Christine Elliott will benefit least from Hiller’s votes-about 100 votes or less. That leaves about 200 votes to go to Frank Klees.
The real question now looks to be: who will survive the second round?
MPP Tim Hudak (Niagara West-Glanbrook) is narrowly leading after the first ballot in the Progressive Conservative leadership contest in Markham.
Hudak, 41, finished with 3,511 of 10,348 electoral votes cast from 107 ridings and maverick MPP Randy Hillier, 51, (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington), who was fourth, has been eliminated from the next ballot, which will be announced around 2 p.m.
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.
It’s not something you would expect from the man Mike Harris has named his heir — a Common Sense revolutionary whose devotion to the party’s neoconservative beliefs has earned him the keys to the former premier’s kingdom.
He’s backed by prominent Tories from that era, including John Baird and Tony Clement, who now sit at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet table. He’s even married to Harris’s former chief of staff, Deb Hutton, with whom he has a 20-month-old daughter, Miller.
But the Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP’s true Blue Tory roots don’t run quite as deep as you’d think.
“My grandfather, by the way, was a strong CCF and NDP activist,” he says.
“My mom says when she was growing up, there was always an NDP sign on her lawn.”
Progressive Conservatives believe their journey back to power begins today in Markham when they determine a new leader to succeed John Tory.
After two ignominious defeats in six years to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, the Conservatives hope their right-wing saviour – and all four candidates are right of the centrist Tory on the political spectrum – will lead them to victory in 2011.
I’m really looking forward to attending the convention. Tonight, the convention kicks off with a tribute reception for John Tory.
I was pretty harsh towards him after the last election and had even blogged about John Tory being called into Donald Trump’s boardroom.
However, I also remember that Tory did other things for the party, such as bringing it out of a massive $4.5M hole, so I expect we’ll all be getting a reminder of what a force he has been in the party over and above his public pursuits. I am looking forward to learning about it.
When the leadership race started I had hoped the race would focus on the bigger philosophical issues (red tory vs. blue tory) and I am glad it turned out that way.
When I first watched Hillier’s and Hudak’s launch events, I knew right away (pun intended) that I would be watching it carefully.
And a Hat Tip to all the bloggers and the campaign social media chairs. Well done. I’m sure you’re all suffering from sleep depravation and caffeine overdose. At least starting tomorrow you can substitute caffeine for BEvERages. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can tomorrow and Saturday.
