Comfortable out Back?
It is with interest that I watch the Ontario PCs select a new leader. Of the 28 PC MPPs currently at Queen’s Park (QP), the 3 expected contenders are all still relatively new; Elliott and Macleod since 2006, Fedeli since 2011. While half of the party have only been elected in the last 5 years, a quarter of the party have been at QP since before the turn of the century; the most of any party. Dunlop, Munro, Hardeman, Barrett, Hudak, Wilson, and Arnott are all “veterans” who have been considered leaders in their communities enough to have been re-elected at least 5 times now. Surely winning your riding at least 5 or more times is credential enough to have a shot at leading your party?
Hudak and Wilson aside, based on the ambition they’ve shown so far in their political careers it’s doubtful that any of these 5 will put their name forward for leader nor be any kind of real player in the PC party going forward. Rejuvenating the PC party is unlikely to be easy when so many of them might very well prefer to keep things the way they are.
Dan Zister