A candidate in the race to lead Ontario’s
Progressive Conservative Party is raising people almost from the
dead to support him — and it is an impressive performance.
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| name="valign" top > ERIC DOWD |
John Tory has resurrected no fewer than 28 former
ministers, some of whom held posts as far back as the 1960s. They
all say he is best qualified to succeed Ernie Eves.
Tory is an outsider in the race in that he has
never been elected to the legislature or any other public body. He
worked in back rooms for the moderate Conservative premier William
Davis in the 1980s and later managed federal elections.
He is less known than the other candidates, Jim
Flaherty and Frank Klees, who were ministers in the more right-wing
governments of premiers Mike Harris and Eves and are sitting
MPPs.
Tory’s rivals say it would be a mistake to pick
someone who has not proved he can win an election and had
experience in elected office.
They also claim Tory, who was close to Davis and
is promising to shift policies more to the mainstream, will lose
the party its base support.
Tory has responded by naming the 28 ex-ministers
who support him. No candidate in memory, which probably means never
because earlier cabinets were much smaller, has wheeled out so many
ministers from the past to endorse him or gone so far back to find
them.
Candidates normally look for endorsements from
active politicians, but some of those now backing Tory have not
been heard of for years and many will be surprised they are still
alive.
Allan Lawrence, a minister under premier John
Robarts in the 1960s and runner-up for leader and premier in 1971,
says Tory has an impressive record in business and the community
and a fresh face the party needs to rebuild.
Darcy McKeough, also a minister under Robarts,
and later an innovative treasurer who first suggested restraining
government growth, says Tory is the right person to lead now.
Other luminaries in Davis’s cabinet who endorse
Tory include Bette Stephenson, the first woman deputy premier, who
on merit should have run for leader and premier, and Leo Bernier, a
northern affairs minister so powerful he was called emperor of the
north, who says Tory understands that region’s needs.
Davis, whose reputation has been enjoying a
renaissance, has not officially endorsed anyone because former
leaders avoid taking sides. But no-one doubts he supports Tory.
Davis endorsed Tory for mayor of Toronto last year.
Former Liberal premier David Peterson also
supported Tory for mayor, saying he inspires, as did Monte Kwinter,
community safety minister in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal
government, which indicates Tory appeals outside party lines.
But the endorsements that will help Tory most
come from 15 former ministers who served under Harris. Bob
Runciman, Harris’s solicitor general, who advocated far-right
policies even before Harris and is the soul of such thinking in the
party, says Tory has unmatched credentials.
Janet Ecker, Harris’s education minister, says
Tory has a mainstream approach founded on conservative principles.
David Tsubouchi, Harris’s management board chair, says Tory’s views
are those of the party’s grassroots and will bring the party new
members.
Chris Hodgson, considered Harris’s chosen heir
before he suddenly quit elected politics, says Tory has a proven
record of consensus-building. Elizabeth Witmer, Harris’s labour
minister, says Tory is the only candidate who can beat McGuinty in
the next election.
Some of these former ministers are half-forgotten
and some have lost stature with the public, but most are useful to
have on side in a race between Conservatives.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s
Park press gallery.
