When John Tory ran for the leadership of the Provincial Progressive Conservative Party he was accused of being a liberal in conservative clothing. Perhaps when it comes to social issues, but economically there is no doubt that he is a conservative.

Whatever label one uses, at least Tory will be honest. This is in strong opposition to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty who has rarely held to his promises. McGuinty made over 283 promises during the election campaign, more have been broken than kept.

Former Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves have insisted that McGuinty knew he didn't even have a chance to keep the promises he made.

When McGuinty became premier he immediately blamed all financial woes on a 5 billion dollar shortfall of the previous government. "This, out of a 700 billion dollar budget, did not make much sense," said former Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Adding, "this shortfall would have been erased by year-end through revenues and budgetary constraints."

The biggest concern for most Ontario residents during the last provincial election was in health and education policy. The Liberals made great promises about bringing both of the problems under control. Instead, the McGuinty assessed a personal levy of 300 to 600 dollars from every working family for health care, and threw money for education to the teachers unions to buy labour peace.

Tory on the other hand, before he can really start proper campaigning has been busy cleaning up the 10 million dollar debt of the PC party. He has already paid off a million in less than a year. He won Eves' seat in the house in a by-election, so now he's able to bring McGuinty to task.

But the polls have not been so good for Tory. McGuinty has moved up to 42% support rating, an increase of 6 points, Tory has gone down by 3 points to 34% and the NDP have also decreased by 2% to 17%. Does not make much sense, but then neither does most politics.

Märkmed: