Defeated Progressive Conservative leader John Tory is receiving a lot of encouragement from many quarters as he tries to hold on to his job, but he will have trouble persuading his own party to persevere with him.
The Conservative leader lost the election and his own riding to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, but has said he wants to continue and will, unless the party rejects him.
Tory lost particularly because he promised to fund private faith-based schools, which offended many. It became the biggest blunder in an election in memory. He said he is not afraid to face critics in his party and rivals for his job, but will do what is in the party's best interests.
The Progressive Conservative’s party president has said it needs time to assess the results, but there is a huge goodwill in it for Tory, because of his work as leader since 2004.
Tory is being described by many in and outside his party as hardworking, likeable, a good TV debater and public-spirited, because he gave up a highly paid job running a cable TV company for the risks of elected politics.
He also is admired for trying to bring much needed civility to politics by urging members of the legislature to be less strident and leading somewhat by example.
Former Liberal premier David Peterson said Tory is civic-minded and should remain in politics.
The Toronto Star, which supported the Liberals, said the PC leader has shown he is decent and compassionate and cares for the vulnerable.
The newspaper added Tory has much to offer, can learn from his mistakes and deserves a second chance and it would be a mistake for the PCs to push him out.
The Globe and Mail concluded Tory’s loss may make him stronger and there is no reason to believe he cannot still be a successful politician and the Conservatives should not act precipitously.
One sympathizer has established a website to collect support, and pointed out McGuinty and former PC premier Mike Harris each were defeated leading parties in an election before they won.
All this is heady stuff and some PCs may be tempted to tough it out for a while under Tory.
But leaders traditionally are eulogized even by enemies when they retire or no longer seem threats.
The newspapers also are fair-weather friends. Before the vote, the Globe said a leader has to produce followers, and Tory failed utterly. The Star felt Tory had questionable leadership skills and lacked credibility in managing finances.
If Tory were to stay and lead in the next election, critics would remind he promised to fund faith-based schools in 2007, and the Star would be the first to mention it.
The reality is Tory as leader was able to bring the PCs only 31.6 percent of the vote, less even than his predecessor Ernie Eves, who took over the party when there was so much hostility toward it he had no hope of winning.
While McGuinty and Harris led and lost in elections, each managed to win his seat in the legislature as a platform for standing up to government.
Tory has no seat. The PCs opened up one for him in a safe, partly rural area after he won leadership but he gave it up to run this time in Toronto, trying to show his party could win in the province’s biggest city.
The PCs would look somewhat undemocratic, and even a joke, if they had another of their MPPs step down to open up a safe seat twice for the same leader in four years. They might not even be able to persuade another MPP to step down and have no power to force one.
Tory, as a result of his promise to fund faith-based schools, also has the heaviest baggage of an opposition leader in memory and the PCs are more likely to want to win next time than help a well-liked but unsuccessful leader rehabilitate himself.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s Park press gallery.
