Faith Based Flop: Tory Blows It

The Liberals took Ontario for another term tonight, while the NDP made some gains. It's the first time in over sixty years that the Libs have won back-to-back majorities in Ontario.

John Tory, PC leader, blew it badly by bringing faith based schools into the equation.

If I were one of Tory's ousted MPPs, I'd be ready to take him into a dark alley and settle some scores. The PCs had a good thing going, and then their leader shot them all in the feet. Instead of making the Ontario election about the Liberals' record of broken promises, the Conservative leader brought a decidedly unconservative topic to the table and fumbled. For his ineptitude, he got the same message as his bushwhacked followers: the voters in his own riding threw him out on his butt.

Tory - Done
In a blatant show of how pathetic political cronies can be, those still clinging to his coat tails cheered his name when he announced that he would remain as the party's leader. Election? Lost. His own seat in government? Lost. His reaction: "I'm your leader." Yes, that is certainly something to celebrate.

The NDPs and Greens will make much out of their modest gains, but their success was probably made possible by Conservative protest votes: they didn't want to vote for Tory, but they couldn't bring themselves to vote Liberal, either.

That said, I do have to hand it to a representative from the Greenies. During an election night interview, he was asked if he was hopeful that the new referendum would pass so that the Greens could grab some seats even if they lost in their ridings, but won a percentage of the popular vote. He replied in the negative. He said that the Greens want to show they can win seats the old school way: by convincing people to elect them.

Class act.

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Photo: CBC