[cosmostein]

This morning the theme seems to be a pile on of Tim Hudak's "inability" to campaign so I will leave that topic to the masses to pick away at.

My focus this morning is the similarity of Hudak's result last night to that of Stephen Harper's in 2004. While we all tend to focus on the ultimate result we tend to gloss over the fact that the PC's have lacked a "power base" in Ontario since the 1999 election.

They were largely what the Federal Liberals are today;
a mishmass of elected officials from a riding here and a riding there;

Now Hudak has gone from:

1/10 seats in Southwestern Ontario to 4/10 seats
5/11 seats in Midwestern Ontario to 8/11 seats
An impressive 10/11 seats in Central Ontario and 5/7 seats in Eastern Ontario.

He has largely the same base of support in Ontario that Harper did on election night 2004, and that is a solid foothold to grow upon.

The PC's and the NDP also find themselves in a very interesting position of having control over the timing of the next election.

No one can question that McGunity has perfect the teflon over the course of an election campaign, however his inability to keep some of the promises made

The scrapping of the power plant in Mississauga for example, may have not harmed him in the context of a majority government but will certainly be an issue in the context of a snap election called at the choosing of the opposition.

This was a respectable first kick at the can by Hudak;
Far better then I had imagine seeing the grim polls earlier in the week.

It will be interesting to see how this minority government plays out.

[Edmund Onward James]

I am pleased you did some research, Cosmo, and give Tim Hudak a fair shake.

Furthermore, I think too many were expecting grand things too soon. The PC party was not only up against teachers, and public sector unions, but also the elite progressives, the liberals who are professionals, such as lawyers, accountants, business people who do business with the existing government and bureaucrats etc.

I stated majority, (thinking even minority wouldn't be easy), so people wouldn't be despondent form all the news from the liberal activists Toronto Star, CBC, Globe and Mail, even the editors of the Toronto Sun, but not Peter Worthington, so they wouldn't refrain from voting or flooding the forums with negative reasoning to turn of voters.

There are others who do not partake with this forum or other forums, but do read what is going on. What are people saying? Sometimes, when people think the other party has a lead and will win, they think why bother. And the turn out was low.

Lets see how the rookie Hudak adjusts and prepares himself and the party. It's not going to be that easy for McThirdTerm. Even the same media might turn on him when things start to hurt their pocket books.

[cosmostein]

I will fully admit I was guilty of accusing Hudak of a poor and "safe" campaign;
The trouble is, as I review the tweets which was pretty well the only coverage the Tories really received on this entire campaign, I realize I am wrong.

Income Splitting for Families is wonderful concept;

Forcing the Hydro providers to take the debt retirement change off your power bill after the debt has been retired a year ago? Common sense thinking no coverage.

He was the only one discussing our horrific clogged roadway system;

And perhaps best of all;
Promising to bring Public Sector salaries in line with the Private Sector,
HUGE

I think the problem was many of us didn't read the Change Book, many of us ignored the announcements.

McGunity offers to stop construction on a power plant 80% complete in a swing riding and it gets two days of coverage,

Hudak demands public sector salaries get in line with the Private sector, and I find seven tweets of coverage from reporters.

We all bought into it;
The Changebook was a solid platform, however it was one we largely didnt bother with because we bought into the Seinfeld election mentality.

Shame on me.

[Edmund Onward James]

Cosmo... once more you impress me with your research, facts and honesty. I posted the above comment on the Blue Canada thread for "Not that disappointed..."

http://www.bluecanada.ca/topic.....entry28629

I voted for Frank Klees for PC leadership. But afterwards I became a team player. Hudak was quite good on many radio programs, but tightened up and lilted in the debate. However, he did get many zingers through.

Indeed, many people didn't read the ChangBook. But if you look at the electoral map it was mainly the cities that stayed Liberal. Hudak gained some seats.

He is young and will learn to the marks with a zinger, one metaphorical arrow like Layton did with Count Iggy regarding his missing days in parliament.

[machiavelli]

SAVE THE PARTY MR. HUDAK, RESIGN

For the endurance of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and perhaps for the fiscal survival of Ontario itself, Mr. Hudak must resign so that the party can instigate the process of party reincarnation; that is to reinstate itself into a legitimate small-c fiscal conservative party that affords Ontario’s electors with alternative policy preferences.

When we elected Mr. Hudak as leader we made one of two misconstrues: either we didn’t appreciate that Hudak was as a Red-Progressive Tory, or we assumed that we could win an election with a left-orientated, somewhat less extreme vision of comrade McGunity. Rather than providing the voters of Ontario with a choice between a far-left progressive and a centre-right small-c fiscal/social conservative, we provided the elector with a vaguely milder version of the Liberal’s progressivism.

With four years to the next election we now have the time to elect a leader who will provide the electors with genuine policy choices. We must take that opportunity; starting immediately.