The Friends Of Randy Hillier

Yesterday, Tory MPP for Lanarck Randy Hillier linked approvingly to a post by one Jeff Goodall in which the latter referred to ex Tory Premier Ernie Eves as a "Pink retread" out to sabotage the Ontario Conservatives.  Here are the titles from a few other blog posts from Mr. Goodall:

Coping with Black intelligence realities

and:

‘Store swarmings’ on the increase, which begins:

...in Toronto, I have been in clothing stores in predominantly Black areas where I had to pick my way around merchandise lying on the floor. Blacks would take clothes off the rack, look at them, and if they didn’t like them then rather than hang them up again they would simply drop them on the floor.


Randy seems to know Mr. Goodall personally, enough to feature him prominently on his Facebook page, so I wonder if he knows and approves of these particular opinions.

And for those who think the PCP=Tea Party rhetoric is over-heated, the graphic below is also from Randy's Facebook page (from the "likes" section):

Q.E.D.

Pinko Retreads In The MSM

Last week, former Conservative premier Ernie Eves said the PC Party had become "the Tea Party version of Ontario politics," prompting Tory Randy Hillier to call Eves "a pinko re-tread."

Meanwhile Randy has clarified that the man whose words he endorsed is not him.  But note: Facebook does not grab lines randomly out of the texts you link to.  It takes the first couple unless you tell it otherwise.   Randy, or someone on his staff, selected the line "I honestly wonder if he [Ernie Eves] ever was a genuine member of the party..." and so forth to head up the posting.

Tory Turmoil: Ontario Tories Turn On Each Other

To be clear: Hillier didn't write these words.  He seems to be endorsing them, however.

The Drip Drip Drip of Bad News

Another poll that shows Tim Hudak's lead slipping:

 With Tory support at 35% to the Liberals’ 30%, the poll suggests Mr. Hudak would clinch a narrow victory to lead a minority government if Ontarians voted tomorrow.

Steve V will surely come along and explain this latest poll, but I'd say it bears out the old maxim that campaigns do matter (even if they're barely underway yet).  You can't hang onto a lead with news like this coming out every day:

Calling Sterling's treatment at the hands of Hudak's PC party "disgraceful,''[Ex-Tory Premier Ernie] Eves said: 'I don't care who hears this. The treatment that Norm got from his own party was not very polite, was not fair, it was not loyal, it was not compassionate and it was not very honest.''

After Eve's comments, the 200-member audience, which included former premier Mike Harris and federal Conservative heavyweight John Baird, applauded and cheered, according to the release.

[Chatham-Kent Essex Conservative candidate Rick] Nicholls said it was the first he had heard of the report and wanted to dig into it before making a statement.

[Halton MPP Ted] Chudleigh, in Chatham to street campaign with Nicholls for the upcoming provincial election, also declined comment.

Instead, Chudleigh, armed with a cardboard wheel, which he called Premier Dalton McGuinty's wheel of tax, said Ontarians are in store for more taxes if the Liberals are re-elected in October. A gust of wind blew the wheel over and it landed on Nicholl's head. He was not injured.

This, by the way, is my favorite picture of Ernie Eves.  When he first ran against Dalton...well, that was one for the ages.

He's Done It Before

In 2003, Jim Flaherty was head axe wielder (ie finance minister) for the Ernie Eves government. Late that year, Eves was defeated and Dalton McGuinty's Liberals took over. The end result of years of cuts?
Now Jim wants to do it again. Gawd help us all.

Flip Flopping Into The History Books

Christina Blizzard in today's T.O. Sun:

"LONDON, Ont. -- In a stunning late-night about-face, John Tory apparently outmanoeuvred his political opponents by announcing he was hanging in as leader.

It was one of the most stunning flip-flops in recent political history. Earlier yesterday, he had said he would consult with family and caucus about his future."

For what its worth, the Ontario Conservatives would do well to keep John Tory.

Essentially, the 2/3s of delegates who voted status quo want to move the party towards the center, where it can win a few votes in the cities and where, once in power, it won't sacrifice the economy on the alter of free market theory.

The last 1/3, the party Rebs, think they can win with a hard right freak that will somehow get Toronto to vote for him via displays of rural machismo.

What this bunch doesn't understand is that Mike Harris was a fluke. When he got in in 1995 he was running against a deficit ridden NDP government and a female midget (can't remember her name at the moment). The Libs were up by ten percent until people saw them all together on stage during the debates and decided that times were tough and if they really wanted "small and cuddly" they would just vote for Yoda.

So ponk! Harris becomes Premier and proceeds to trash the place--a public sector strike every twenty minutes! the air filled with smoke from burning dumps! poverty in the streets! dysentery out in Walkerton (in the streets)!

But Harris goes into retirement just when the whole province goes into the toilet and escapes the voters wrath, leaving Ernie Eves here to get tagged with the cleanup and, eventually, defeat at the polls.

But people still remember what Harris did, especially how, after all the cutting and slashing, Ontario's finances were in the same awful shape they were in the day he stepped into office. Hence the extreme negative reaction Flaherty gets when he dares to open his mouth re the Ontario Liberals' spending priorities. What does this guy know about balancing a budget? Nothing, if you judge by his performance as finance minister in the Harris/Eves regime.

In any case, a "strong horse" ideologue from the back woods will not win in Ontario for a long time. Best keep the moderate you've got.