pcpo leadership Archives - Stephen Taylor

Tory gets 66.87%

In London, where provincial Progressive Conservatives gathered this weekend, John Tory’s future as their leader seems uncertain. Tory faced a vote of confidence today on his leadership as approximately 1000 delegates voted on a question on whether the party ought to have a leadership review. Taking personal blame for the party’s electoral loss last fall in a pre-vote speech, Tory also warned delegates that a such a review process would take precious time out of preparations for the next campaign, in 2011.

Prior to the vote, delegates experienced some olde-tyme convention tactics as 81 pro-review (anti-Tory) delegates were challenged due to their residency status within their representative ridings. Tory claimed no prior knowledge to the challenges but expressed that some of his delegates faced the same.

After the votes were finally counted, Tory could only muster 66.87%. The number is technically a victory for Tory, but in reality shows that there is not enough support for the man who ran on leadership during the last election. In a previous conservative leadership review vote, former Prime Minister Joe Clark bested Tory’s number by less than one percent at 66.9% yet stepped down as leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives.

Pro-review forces initially had set the bar high for Tory at 80% declaring that “80% minus 1” would be enough to cause a review. Tory never took the bait to declare the threshold that he would need, rather simply citing through supporters that the party constitution simply requires a majority of support at 50% plus one. Media observers including the Sun’s Christina Blizzard set a realistic threshold at 70-75%.

After receiving the verdict, Tory expressed that he would take some time to think about his future in the party given the support given at this weekend’s convention. It would be divisive for John Tory to accept a technical victory on these numbers and he should resign as the leader of the party. In my opinion the party needs a bold vision and platform to offer Ontario in a future election. Dalton McGuinty’s government has not been plagued by scandal to the extent that it has registered on the minds of the passive political observer. Therefore, running as a “nice guy” with no groundwork established on policy prior to an election will result in the same. If John Tory can learn this lesson from the last election and learns that his party yearns for change, he will have the opportunity to prove it; Tory can run for leader. But to succeed, he must show that he will offer a bold vision. Others too will be able to offer their views on the course that should be taken by the PC Party. The party will be able to spend some true time in the wilderness and if Tory and a new field of competitors face a true trial by fire, the victor can forge new and competitive policy in order to offer Ontario a viable Progressive Conservative government.

80 minus One

I’ve heard word tonight that those who are seeking to review John Tory’s leadership at the 2008 AGM, are setting the bar for that vote.

80% is the amount of support that that members of the ad hoc “yes” campaign have set for Tory for the vote at the February meeting.

UPDATE: Here is the Press Release

80 Minus One

December 12, 2007 – Windsor, On – Nick Kouvalis, owner of the DraftALeader.com website announced today the launch of a new campaign – 80 Minus One. The upcoming Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Leadership Review represents the will of the party. In order to effectively lead that party for the next four years and ultimately into the next election, John Tory must carry the vast majority of delegates at the convention.

Previous leadership races have set the bar high:

Ralph Klien: 55% – resigned
Joe Clark: 66.9% – leadership race
Dalton McGuinty: 81% – elected Premier
Stephen Harper: 84% – elected Prime Minister

“John Tory was recently quoted in a CBC Windsor story as claiming to command the support of a “vast majority” of the party” said Kouvalis. “We agree. To effectively lead this party forward, a significant majority is required”

“John Tory is in Ottawa today campaigning for votes from Ontario MP’s, who are ex-officio delegates to our convention.” Kouvalis stated “We want to ensure that MPs know the grassroots of this party have a voice and opinion on this issue.”

Visit DraftALeader.com to view or download the “80 Minus One” campaign video.

For more information contact:

Nick Kouvalis, Campaign Chair
DraftALeader.com
519-791-9663
nick@draftaleader.com

UPDATE: Here’s the video referenced in the press release:

Tory ouster? Capobianco responds

John Tory is in Ottawa tomorrow to meet with members of the Ontario CPC caucus and key federal Conservative strategists. Of course, the PCPO leader comes to the nation’s capital under the cloud of a challenge of a possible leadership review being organized by conservative strategist Nick Kouvlalis, who is leading the charge for a review with his “yes” campaign. The leader of the “no” (to review) campaign is John Capobianco, a long-time conservative organizer in his own right. After interviewing Kouvalis on his efforts last week, I immediately sought to ask Capobianco a set of questions about the possible leadership review and his team’s efforts to shield Tory and promote him as a strong leader for the party membership.

ST.CA: “Mr. Capobianco, in the face of this challenge to John Tory’s leadership of the PCPO, do you recognize this as a significant ‘grassroots’ campaign of the base, or the efforts of a few discontents?”

JC: One should never discount the efforts of party members who are calling for a leadership review. I’ve seen some websites and read reports of a dinner where folks gathered to discuss organizing for a
review vote in February. I don’t think these can be called either a
campaign of the ‘grassroots’ or efforts of a few discontents – however,
I take all constructive criticisms seriously as does John Tory. Given
our loss, I certainly think this is a time of valid discussion for the
entire party, and John Tory has been at the forefront of this
discussion, meeting Tories in their ridings face to face or calling them
on the phone, which is about as ‘grassroots’ and genuine as one can get.
The response John has been getting is good, he is out there, with the
party and real conservatives, every day, face to face, hearing about
their concerns and, more importantly, learning from them.

ST.CA: “In the last campaign, John Tory stated that ‘Leadership Matters’. Some say that the results indicated that Tory failed this standard that he set for himself. Why should Tory stay on now?”

JC: It’s true that John Tory set high standards for himself, and didn’t achieve what he wanted to, he knows and laments this. However within weeks of the election, he was out in the ridings, face to face with the party and working with them to discover what he did wrong, which shows he is indeed a leader.

Tory should stay on because his drive and energy to create a compelling conservative vision for the province is relentless. Out of nowhere he almost became mayor of Toronto, and within three years of winning the leadership of the PC party – at a time, I will add, where we were $10 million in debt and with the lowest morale I’ve seen in years – many thought we were in a position to win the province, despite an economy that appeared strong and huge liberal spending.

When you talk to party members, of course they’re upset at the loss; we as Conservatives have certainly suffered our fair share of losses both provincially and nationally over the years, but we usually determine where we made our mistakes and went about fixing them… we don’t and should not get into the practice of defeating our leaders after one election loss. If we did, we wouldn’t have had Mike Harris as Premier or Stephen Harper as our current Prime Minister, both suffered initial electoral defeat, but come back to win their respective elections the second time.

Tory is currently listening to and working with the party and over the next 4 years will create an incredibly dynamic Progressive Conservative Party.

ST.CA: “The ‘yes’ side of the campaign has made their first move. Will you be responding? What will you be doing to sign up as many delegates as possible to meet the challenge, whatever its degree, from the ‘no’ side?”

JC: Tory will be doing what he has been doing since October, meeting with the party, face to face and in the open, learning and letting progressive conservatives across the province know that they can trust him to be a strong Conservative leader.

Much is being made of Tory’s tour to connect with the membership for feedback and for a post-mortem to the election loss. Critics on both sides of the debate argue about the merits of how these consultations are being held. Tory’s people would seem to claim that these consultations show a grassroots effort to consult the membership, while the “yes” campaign suggests that the consultations are framed by Tory and show little accountability. Capobianco seems to counter the self-proclaimed label of “grassroots” by the “yes” campaign by suggesting that the campaign is being organized by a handful of senior conservatives.