John Tory is the acknowledged leader of the group of three running for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Not bad, for someone who has never held a political seat in his life. That doesn’t mean that Tory is a stranger to politics by any means - he’s been in the backrooms of the process for most of his life. Last November he ran for his first political office, contending for the position of Mayor of Toronto. To run he resigned from the position of President of Rogers Cable. Tory lost the race to David Miller, but his solid, close second placing was a very respectable finish.
He was then courted to become the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada - an offer that he turned down. After some reflection, he then chose to run for the position of leader of the Ontario PC Party, “I have always been very interested in Provincial Politics because it involves the delivering of services to people. Provincial Government does that - not that Federal Government isn’t important but they deal with interest rates and foreign policy, not so much delivering services to people. The first office I ran for, the position of Mayor, delivers services to people like schools, hospitals etc.” says Tory. He adds, “The other part is that a good part of the job is that it is carried out in Toronto, with some travel. I like Toronto and there are a lot of challenges here that need to be dealt with.”
What does Tory plan to do when he gains the leadership of the Party? Tory says, “I plan to start immediately to work with the grassroots of the party to develop a new platform. It will probably take a few years to develop. The second thing is to reach out to groups which we have neglected in the last ten to fifteen years: to newer Canadians, to women, to a lot of different organizations. The third thing is to get rid of the (party) debt left over from the last election. These are the short-term things. On the medium term we have to get new candidates to test the next election.”
Asked about what he would do when he becomes Premier, Tory replied: “When we form the government we have to get better government, people are tired of paying more and more and getting less and less services. People are tired of government waste. Secondly, we have an obligation to ensure that we have proper planning and proper management when it comes to health and education which spend most of the money. Right now, there is a premium as to how much you spend rather than how well you spend it. After that, I would look at rebuilding communities. The North is losing young people, the middle needs roads and the cities in the south need old fashioned law and order. That list can change because the election won’t happen for another three years and anything can happen.”
The final question posed was about the more than billion dollar provincial debt that the Liberal government is using as an excuse for present cutbacks, campaign promise-breaking. John Tory explained, “There was added costs largely due to SARS but much of that amount is inflated and used as an excuse to break almost every promise he ( McGuinty ) ever made.”
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There will be further write-ups on the other candidates for leadership of the Ontario PC Party, Jim Flaherty and Frank Klees, before the actual event, which will be held on September 18th , 2004 at the Crowne Royal Hotel on Eglinton at the Don Valley Parkway. John Tory’s phone number, for those who wish to help with his campaign, is 416-850-0572.
