At Home in Hespeler

After tonight’s provincial by-elections in Kitchener-Waterloo and Vaughan, party President Richard Ciano sent an email to the faithful:

…we showed that we are the only Party that can put Ontario back on the right track.

So you won those by-elections then?

Woah, not so fast there. Vaughan was Liberal before the vote, and we all know how hard it is to gain a seat from a governing party mid-term.

Kitchener-Waterloo then?

Well here’s the thing, it was a Conservative seat. And it’s not now a Liberal seat. No, a 22-year Tory seat is now NDP. That’s not showing we can put Ontario on the right track, it’s standing on the track wondering what that light is, and why is it getting bigger?

It’s become clear, if it wasn’t last October, that Tim Hudak can’t win. He is, as Mark Steyn likes to say about Republican Presidential candidates, a nice guy who gives great concession speeches.

Over the last nine years Ontario has gone from economic powerhouse to a recipient of federal equalization, the debt has gone through the roof and public finances are a mess. How do you beat a guy with a record like that?

Turns out, showing up isn’t enough. And neither is Tim Hudak.

I like Tim Hudak, he’s a nice guy and seems like a truly decent man, but enough already. If we are ever to get this province back on track, we need a leader who can win, and Tim Hudak ain’t him.

Tim Hudak Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Richard Ciano, Tim Hudak, Vaughan

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?

**********************************

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.

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

human rights Christine Elliott, Frank Klees, Human Rights Tribunals, Ontario Human Rights Commision, Ontario Progressive Conservatives, PC leadership, Randy Hiller, Tim Hudak