At Home in Hespeler

It is being reported through twitter that Tim Hudak has defeated Frank Klees 5606 to 4643.

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Afterthought: Tim Hudak has garnered 55% of the third ballot votes to defeat Frank Klees. Just under 500 of Christine Elliot’s 2900 second ballot votes went to Hudak, while a significant 1400 went to Frank Klees. It was not enough however, and Tim Hudak is the next leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario: a job that will come with daily venom, vicious innuendo spoken of you and, God forbid you should ever win an election, the noisiest 1/2% of the population will burn you in effigy on a daily basis. Congratulations Tim.

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Update: Joanne at Blue Like You, Sandy at Crux of the Matter and United and Strong are all reporting the Hudak victory now.

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Tim Hudak leads after first ballot voting at the Ontario Provincial Conservative Party Convention with 33% of the vote. Frank Klees follows closely with 30% followed by Christine Elliott at 26% and Randy Hillier at 10%.

From United and Strong:

The Results have come in:

107 of 107 ridings:

Hudak: 3511
Klees: 3093
Elliott: 2728
Hillier 1013

The Roll call for the Second round balloting will be after lunch, with Randy Hillier being dropped from second round balloting.

Ajax Pickering – Elliott wins
Algoma Manitoulin – Hudak wins
Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale – Hudak wins
Barrie – Hudak wins
Beaches-East York – Klees wins
Bramalea-Gore-Malton – Klees wins
Brampton Springdale – Klees wins
Brampton West – Klees wins
Brant – Hudak wins
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound – Elliott wins
Burlington – Hudak wins
Cambridge – Klees wins
Carleton-Missippi Mills – Hillier wins
Chatham Kent Essex – Hudak wins
Davenport – 3-way tie (Hudak, Elliott, Klees)
Don Valley East – Klees wins
Don Valley West – Hudak wins
Dufferin-Caledon – Elliott wins
Durham – Elliott wins
Eglington Lawrence – Elliott wins
Elgin Middlesex London – Klees wins
Essex – Elliott wins
Etobicoke Centre – Klees wins
Etobicoke Lakeshore – Klees wins
Etobicoke North – Hudak wins
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell – Hillier wins
Guelph – Hudak wins
Haldimand-Norfolk – Hudak wins
Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock – Hudak wins
Halton – Hudak wins
Hamilton Centre – Hudak wins
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek – Hudak wins
Hamilton Mountain – Hudak wins
Huron Bruce – Klees wins
Kenora-Rainy River – Hudak wins
Kingston and the Islands – Elliott wins
Kitchener Centre – Klees wins
Kitchener Conestoga – Klees wins
Kitchener Waterloo – Elliott wins
Lambton Kent Middlesex – Klees wins
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington – Hillier win
Leeds-Grenville – Hudak wins
London-Fanshawe – Hudak wins
London North Centre – Hudak wins
London West – Hudak wins
Markham-Unionville – Klees wins
Mississauga-Brampton South – Klees wins
Mississauga East Cooksville – Klees wins
Mississauga Erindale – Klees wins
Mississauga South – Klees wins
Mississauga Streetsville – Hudak wins
Nepean Carleton – Hudak wins
Newmarket Aurora – Klees wins
Niagara Falls – Hudak wins
Niagara West Glanbrook – Hudak wins
Nickel Belt – Klees wins
Nipissing – Hudak wins
Northumberland-Quinte West – Elliott wins
Oak Ridges-Markham – Klees wins
Oakville – Elliott wins
Oshawa – Elliott wins
Ottawa Centre – Hudak wins
Ottawa-Orleans – Hudak wins
Ottawa South – Hudak wins
Ottawa Vanier – Elliott wins
Ottawa West Nepean – Hudak wins
Oxford – Hudak wins
Parkdale-High Park – Klees wins
Parry Sound-Muskoka – Hudak wins
Perth-Wellington – Hudak wins
Peterborough – Elliott wins
Pickering-Scarborough East – Elliott wins
Prince Edward-Hastings – Hudak wins
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke – Hudak wins
Richmond Hill – Klees wins
St Catharines – Hudak wins
St Paul’s – Elliott wins
Sarnia-Lambton – Hudak wins
Sault Ste Marie – Elliott wins
Scarborough-Agincourt – Hudak wins
Scarborough Centre – Klees wins
Scarborough Guildwood – Klees wins
Scarborough Rouge River – Klees wins
Scarborough Southwest – Klees wins
Simcoe-Grey – Hudak wins
Simcoe-North – Hudak wins
Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry – Elliott wins
Sudbury – Klees wins
Thornhill – Klees wins
Thunder Bay-Atikokan – Klees wins
Thunder Bay-Superior North – Hudak wins
Timiskaming-Cochrane – Hudak wins
Timmins-James Bay – Hudak wins
Toronto Centre – Elliott wins
Toronto Danforth – Elliott wins
Trinity Spadina – Hudak wins
Vaughan – Hudak wins
Welland – Hudak wins
Wellington-Halton Hills – Elliott wins
Whitby-Oshawa – Elliott wins
Willowdale – Klees wins
Windsor-Tecumseh – Hudak wins
Windsor West – Elliott wins
York Centre – Klees wins
York Simcoe – Klees wins
York South Weston – Elliott wins
York West – Elliott wins

The roll call for the second ballot will happen after lunch, with Randy Hiller dropped from the second round.

Let the back-room politicking begin.

Follow the votes at United and Strong

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I have been watching the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race with some interest the past few months, and slowly but surely made my call on who I think should become the next PC leader. This weekend it all comes to a head, as Progressive Conservatives in Ontario vote for a replacement for John Tory (side note: really, you people want John Tory to run for Mayor of Toronto? You like David Miller that much?). I have at different times written off every candidate in this race for one reason or another, but the time has come to endorse somebody, anybody.

First, lets do away with the caveats: I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of any political party. I did consider taking out a membership for this race, but never did.  I do, however, tend to vote Conservative (not so much Progressive), although my vote has to be earned. I refuse to just give it to the guy who’s the least left wing.

To start with, lets eliminate a few candidates. Frank Klees is a throwback, a seventies Progressive Conservative who belongs to another time, another ballot. He was, in my opinion, un-vote-able in much the same way John Tory was un-vote-able. Memo to Frank Klees: Dalton McGuinty will probably step down in a few years, you would be very comfortable in the Liberal party.

Randy Hillier I liked, and agreed with him on most issues. I hope the next leader has a seat at the table for Hiller. He is, however, not ready for prime time. He has nowhere near the professionalism and polish needed to run a major political party, and may never develop it. It makes him refreshing, but not an appropriate choice.

And then there were two. How can I not choose Tim Hudak over Christine Elliot. Christine Elliot presented one policy that I was big on, flat taxes. This is possibly the best policy option out there, simplifying the tax system, balancing the tax load between private individuals and corporate, yet at the same time lowering taxes for lower income workers. Sadly, I don’t get the impression Christine Elliot is as committed to a flat tax as I am, I get the impression she can speak it with a straight face, but that it is disposable policy. What your left with is Red Tory Liberal lite policies. Thanks, but no.

Tim Hudak, on the other hand, comes in with one big plus, the human rights issue. This isn’t a minor issue, in my mind, this is the issue. Frankly put, if you can’t see what is so wrong with these speech tribunals, then you don’t have appropriate conservative credentials. This may never make it to an election platform, Christine Elliot may be right and it may be too dangerous an issue (I disagree, but lets run with it). However, her un willingness to fight for it, to talk of these judge/jury joint ventures in a negative way indicates she doesn’t get what is wrong with undemocratic, un-judicial beaurocrats passing judgement on the speaking habits of the citizenry.  It’s not so much a major policy issue as it is a litmus test: if you won’t talk about disbanding these kangaroo courts, then you’re not my kind of conservative.

On almost all talking points and policy issues, Tim Hudak passes my sniff test. His conservative credentials are strong. He gives the impression that he has conservative values, not because they are a good career decision, but because he believes in the core tenant that freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.

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To use a phrase, it just got interesting. Prospective Ontario Provincial Conservative leader Tim Hudak announced yesterday that if he were to become Premier of Ontario, he would scrap Ontario Human Rights Commission tribunals:

Today, Tim announced his proposal to scrap the Human Rights Tribunal and instead move to a court-based system bound by rules of evidence as opposed to hurt feelings under the current tribunals.

“We must vigorously prosecute people for real acts of illegal discrimination,” said Tim. “This is not the case today, where we have a Commission and a Chair that use the Ontario Human Rights Code as a tool of political advocacy.”

I won’t get to excited until he specifically rules out speech complaints from his new system, but this is definitely promising.

Who I will endorse as leader is quietly shaping up, and Hudak just became a front runner. The question is, what does Randy Hiller, Christine Elliott and Frank Klees have to say on the abominable human rights tribunals?

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Update: Twitter comes through – Randy Hillier is ahead of Hudak on this one:

As Premier, Randy Hillier will introduce legislation to eliminate the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

He will place genuine violations of human rights before real courts, where all parties can be confident that justice will be done and that procedural fairness will not be ignored. Human Rights Commissions will become redundant and will be eliminated.

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Updatier: Hello to readers of Blazing Cat Fur and the wonderful PerezHudak.com.

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